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Black History Month
February means a lot of different things for people. Mostly, it brings about thoughts of Valentine’s Day, as people are thinking of the person they love and planning what they’re going to do together once the 14th rolls around. For some people, it means complaining about how Valentine’s Day was “created by greeting card companies” and “we should be able to show each other we care every day of the year, not just when we’re told to.” And of course, the stores have dedicated aisles to heart-shaped candy boxes and red and pink floral arrangements; just to make sure it’s on everybody’s minds. However, February also marks the beginning of Black History Month in the United States and other countries. Black History Month has been seen as rather controversial by many prominent African Americans, such as Morgan Freeman, who said, “Why would you relegate my history to a single month?” The idea for Black History Month was probably filled with good intentions. It was meant to promote African American history and culture to a society that didn’t already focus very much attention on African Americans. Kids were promoted to learn about things that they weren’t taught about in school, and told to learn about things they wouldn’t easily have had the opportunity to learn about otherwise. Unfortunately, Black History Month only lasts one month. The rest of the year, people don’t feel guilty about the fact that they aren’t going out of their way to learn about Black History. The other problem is that the month chosen is February, which is the shortest month of the year, even during leap years like 2012. Truly, African American history is as equally rich as all other cultures’ histories. It’s sad that most people don’t go out of their way to research the achievements of African Americans. I’m currently in a theater course solely dedicated to “African American Theater.” The course is full of plays that I’ve never heard of, written by African Americans. It’s sad to me that I’ve never heard of these plays, and that I have to take a course dedicated specifically to African American Theater in order to be exposed to it. I should learn about all different types of theater in any theater course, but this is the way things are. It just goes to show that we still have a ways to go in terms of creating true equality in our society. The first play that I read for this class was called “Mulatto,” written by Langston Hughes. The play is short, and would probably only be 30-40 minutes when performed. The play takes place in the 1930s, and follows a child with a white father and a black mother, who is treated as though he is only black. He isn’t allowed to walk through the front door of his father’s house, and his father considers him to be “a bastard.” It’s an interesting play that highlights the difficulties of multiculturalism and isn’t something that’s probably read by most high school and college students. The play isn’t long, so it isn’t difficult to read, and reveals something about our history that we don’t learn much about. So if it sounds interesting to you, I would recommend checking it out. Also, the movie Red Tails was just released by Lucasfilms, which is of course George Lucas’ production company. The film chronicles the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-African American fighter pilot squad during World War II. The thing about this movie is that no studio would agree to release the film, due to the fact that it was only about African Americans and didn’t feature any major actors apart from Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard, both of whom aren’t in the film for very long. Because of this, George Lucas decided to finance the release of the film independently, and shelled a few million dollars out of his own pocket to promote and distribute the film. While I’ve heard that the movie isn’t a great work of art, it should showcase a few decent action scenes and highlights a part of history that most people (apart from history buffs) probably haven’t heard of. That’s it from me for this week. Next week I’ll be talking about the Oscars, and giving you my picks as to who I feel should be and will be winning each major category. Have a great week!
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