Being African American, I have gone through plenty of history classes where the only topic for African American history was during Black history month and it was mostly focused on slavery. Being black, in 2019, I have noticed that there are a lot of influential people that made positive impacts on society that are not being discussed today.

Being African American myself, I can say that I did not learn about a lot of influential African American leaders in school. Most of my knowledge about any figure came from outside research that I discovered on my own. This is sad considering I am 22 years old and the only topics I can recall learning in school were the ins and outs of slavery and the great triumphs of Martin Luther King Jr. But, besides MLK there were other great leaders that made a positive impact on society.

Like:

Nelson Mandela

Billie Holiday

Maya Angelou

Rosa Parks

Phillis Wheatley

W.E.B Du Bois

My list could go on for days about how many African American men and women shaped our country into what it is today. Yes, slavery is important to know, but learning about the same people and the same concepts in our school systems should be changed. We should be educating the future generations on other African American's, therefore they can understand other parts of African American culture other than slavery.

We have so many great people that challenged the systems and went beyond the limit so African Americans can be where we are today, so why are we not talking about it? Why do the school systems wait until February to discuss African American history and only decide to talk about the negative outskirts of it?

My hopes are that the school system will one day stop being outdated with culture's and bring more awareness to people who have impacted this Country.