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The History of Black History Month · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha, and.
0:07
Speaker 2: Welcome to stuff I never told you a protection of iHeartRadio.
0:18
Speaker 2: And today, as we record this, it is February third,
0:21
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, and this is our first what we
0:24
Speaker 2: call full episode of February, although it will be shorter,
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Speaker 2: and that means we are entering Black History Month. Yes,
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Speaker 2: despite what our current administration in the US says, Sminty
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Speaker 2: is going to be here celebrating all the time, not
0:41
Speaker 2: just during Black History Month, but also showcasing Black History Month.
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Speaker 2: And in the face of so much regression, of so
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Speaker 2: much erasure, of the loss of DEI policies of school curriculums,
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Speaker 2: further backtracking on teaching Black history, it got me thinking
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Speaker 2: about the history of Black History Month. And yeah, and interestingly,
1:05
Speaker 2: I mean it makes sense some of you have recently
1:09
Speaker 2: written in about it, and I was like, oh, timing, yes, yes,
1:15
Speaker 2: because we have commented before on this show and that
1:20
Speaker 2: Black History Month is in February, because February is the
1:22
Speaker 2: shortest month of the year. But that is actually not
1:25
Speaker 2: the case. So let us set the record straight. But
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Speaker 2: before we do, here's a bit of a disclaimer. Sometimes
1:37
Speaker 2: we've run into this issue on Smanty wherein we want
1:41
Speaker 2: to talk about important things, but there's language in the
1:44
Speaker 2: history that we are not sure as appropriate for us
1:47
Speaker 2: to say in this case as non black people. So
1:52
Speaker 2: that being said, there are some organizational and outlet names
1:56
Speaker 2: in here that I'm going to refer to by their
1:58
Speaker 2: current names because they did change their name as the
2:01
Speaker 2: times changed, and not what they were called back then.
2:05
Speaker 2: And we do go back and forth on this because
2:08
Speaker 2: we don't want to erase the history of it, but
2:11
Speaker 2: it also just doesn't feel right for us to say it.
2:17
Speaker 2: But I know people do go back and forth about it.
2:19
Speaker 2: We had a back and forth about it when we
2:21
Speaker 2: were doing the audio book. We were like, what, what's
2:27
Speaker 2: the correct answer here?
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Speaker 1: Yes, because we definitely don't want to erase any of
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Speaker 1: the connotations or the beginnings. But just like in anything,
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Speaker 1: when we see growth and when we understand a better terminology,
2:43
Speaker 1: that we have to grow with it, and we have
2:45
Speaker 1: to acknowledge it, and we have to acknowledge the problems
2:47
Speaker 1: of it as it began. But also like trying to
2:50
Speaker 1: take the scholastic understanding and going and a farming and
2:57
Speaker 1: putting in history as it was, this back and forth,
3:00
Speaker 1: but also feeling uncomfortable, especially for and I will speak
3:04
Speaker 1: for myself, but I think any understands coming from a
3:08
Speaker 1: family or an area where they are negative terms and
3:12
Speaker 1: they are used in to degrade others and in a
3:16
Speaker 1: racially motivated way. So anything in that I'm traumatized and
3:21
Speaker 1: scarred by so feel so opposed for it because I
3:25
Speaker 1: have seen it, used to it so hatefully that I
3:27
Speaker 1: want nothing to do with it. So it's kind of
3:29
Speaker 1: one of those things that you go back to. But
3:31
Speaker 1: I am a professional. We have research or we understand
3:35
Speaker 1: where this comes from. But at the same time we
3:38
Speaker 1: understand the darkness of it all. So this, like what
3:43
Speaker 1: feels comfortable to us versus what is respectful, is a
3:50
Speaker 1: whole mixed bag.
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Speaker 2: It is, it is, and I know people have different
3:53
Speaker 2: opinions on it, and also I mean a whole separate episode.
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Speaker 2: But the idea of what the internet can run with, right,
4:03
Speaker 2: you say it, And it's not like AI can't generate
4:06
Speaker 2: my voice saying it, unfortunately.
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Speaker 1: Right, But we don't want to give them more, Amma. No,
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Speaker 1: not that anybody cares enough about us, but just saying.
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Speaker 2: No, not yet, not yet, but yes, just so you know,
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Speaker 2: I this is going to be a very succinct history
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Speaker 2: of Black History Months and how it came to be.
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Speaker 2: But I do recommend that you look it up and
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Speaker 2: you can see the history of how the terminology changed
4:35
Speaker 2: and everything like that. All Right, So here in the US,
4:41
Speaker 2: Black History Month takes place in February every year and
4:44
Speaker 2: is meant to uplift and remember the accomplishments of black
4:47
Speaker 2: folks throughout history. As listeners probably know, there is discussion
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Speaker 2: about how Black History should be all year, which we
4:55
Speaker 2: believe totally true. But it is also case of spotlighting
5:01
Speaker 2: history that has for so long been erased or dismissed,
5:05
Speaker 2: and it was kind of a fight to get this
5:07
Speaker 2: whole thing established. So the history of Black History Month
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Speaker 2: goes back to nineteen twenty six. Doctor Carter G. Woodson
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Speaker 2: is viewed as the father of black history. He was
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Speaker 2: the second black American to get a PhD in history
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Speaker 2: from Harvard. He was born in eighteen seventy five and
5:25
Speaker 2: his parents were previously enslaved. He was able to pursue
5:29
Speaker 2: opportunities in education like Harvard, and he went on to
5:34
Speaker 2: teach at Howard University. However, during his studies, he noticed
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Speaker 2: that black history was seriously underrepresented if it was represented
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Speaker 2: at all. It was a goal of his to educate
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Speaker 2: people about the accomplishments, contributions, and history of black people
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Speaker 2: in America, and he was also concerned with Americans rewriting
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Speaker 2: the historical narrative from a white perspective an erasing Black history.
6:03
Speaker 2: So to combat this, one of the ideas he had
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Speaker 2: was designating a specific time to really highlight black history,
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Speaker 2: and in his original idea, he wanted to set aside
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Speaker 2: a week in public schools to focus on black history.
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Speaker 2: He chose the second week of February as African American
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Speaker 2: History Week, which again is not what it was originally called,
6:27
Speaker 2: but I'm going to go with African American because that's
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Speaker 2: what they go with now, and called on some of
6:32
Speaker 2: the members of the Association for the Study of African
6:35
Speaker 2: American Life and History or the ASALH to help him
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Speaker 2: make it happen, and this was a foundation he helped
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Speaker 2: start in nineteen fifteen. His main goals were both a
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Speaker 2: celebration of black history and that it would be studied
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Speaker 2: seriously in an academic sense, because at the time, not
6:55
Speaker 2: only was there a lack of academic focus, textbooks just
6:59
Speaker 2: did not included at all. The ASALH was co founded
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Speaker 2: by George Cleveland Hall, William B. Hartgrove, Jesse E. Morland,
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Speaker 2: Alexander L. Jackson, and James E. Stamps. And the story
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Speaker 2: goes that in nineteen fifteen, Woodson was in Chicago, a
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Speaker 2: home of his alma mater, because he also went to
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Speaker 2: the University of Chicago, not just Harvard, to celebrate the
7:24
Speaker 2: fiftieth anniversary of emancipation in the United States, a celebration
7:28
Speaker 2: that the state of Illinois was sponsoring, and it lasted
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Speaker 2: for three weeks. Thousands attended, and the whole thing was
7:35
Speaker 2: this huge source of inspiration for him. He and the
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Speaker 2: organization really pushed for more coverage of black history, publishing
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Speaker 2: work and spreading the word. The ASALH stepped up, providing materials,
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Speaker 2: lesson plans, whatever they could because people were really interested
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Speaker 2: in it. Woodson pushed bulletins, he established themes with the
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Speaker 2: help of those like Mariam Cloud Bethune, who we did
8:03
Speaker 2: we've talked about before mentioned in our book. Over time,
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Speaker 2: the week became more and more normalized and accepted in
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Speaker 2: the US. During the nineteen twenties, black people in the
8:15
Speaker 2: United States were in more cities across the country, and
8:18
Speaker 2: the black middle class was growing. They were partaking in
8:22
Speaker 2: mediums and art created for black people. The Harlem Renaissance
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Speaker 2: was happening. A demand grew for more materials about black history,
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Speaker 2: for more history, and black history clubs started to spring up.
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Speaker 2: People were like really glamoring for it. However, Woodson had
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Speaker 2: some complaints about some of this. He was worried that
8:49
Speaker 2: less than educated individuals are those that were just trying
8:53
Speaker 2: to get in on the moment, we're doing the movement
8:56
Speaker 2: a disservice or outright harm. Notably, he was also a
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Speaker 2: believer that this whole thing would transition into year long
9:07
Speaker 2: teachings of black history. That's what he wanted. He wanted
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Speaker 2: to start this and then it would grow. By the sixties,
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Speaker 2: freedom schools in the South had fully embraced the black
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Speaker 2: history curriculum, but still the most popular eighth grade US
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Speaker 2: history book textbook only mentioned two black people in the
9:30
Speaker 2: entire section covering this century after the Civil War. So
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Speaker 2: some colleges and universities expanded beyond the week and they
9:41
Speaker 2: started to embrace a whole month Black History Month. This
9:45
Speaker 2: was during the time of civil rights in the US
9:48
Speaker 2: and many protests were happening around racial inequality and anti imperialism,
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Speaker 2: and these protests helped pave the way for Black History Month.
10:00
Speaker 2: So in places where it was not accepted, teachers would
10:03
Speaker 2: hide Woodson's textbooks in schools. Freedom schools, Yes, made sure
10:09
Speaker 2: Black history was a part of the curriculum. And when
10:12
Speaker 2: we talk about the power of education and why it
10:14
Speaker 2: is so concerning what we're seeing in the US with
10:17
Speaker 2: book bands and rolling back CRT or critical race theory
10:21
Speaker 2: or even just black history in schools, this is what
10:23
Speaker 2: we're talking about. It's very concerning. However, at this point,
10:29
Speaker 2: Black History Month wasn't yet official on the federal level.
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Speaker 2: That didn't change until the country's bi centennial in nineteen
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Speaker 2: seventy six, when then President Gerald R. Ford officially recognized
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Speaker 2: Black History Month. In part of his statement about it,
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Speaker 2: he said, seized the opportunity to honor the two often
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Speaker 2: neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor
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Speaker 2: throughout our history. In February of nineteen eighty six, Congress
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Speaker 2: passed a public law recognizing the second month of the
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Speaker 2: year as Black History Month. This not only impacted schools,
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Speaker 2: but public parks museums, libraries, etc. The beginning of nineteen
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Speaker 2: ninety six, US presidents started releasing proclamations of Black History
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Speaker 2: Month every year. The first one was specifically celebrating the
11:27
Speaker 2: achievements of black women. I thought was interesting, and this
11:33
Speaker 2: brings us to the question of the timing. Why is
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Speaker 2: Black History Month in February. It's because the second week
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Speaker 2: of February that was originally celebrated coincided with the birthdays
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Speaker 2: of two people, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, both important
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Speaker 2: to Black history. Lincoln for his role in the emancipation
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Speaker 2: of those enslaved in the United States, Douglas for his
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Speaker 2: significant role in the abolitionist movement. I believe their birthdays
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Speaker 2: are the twelfth and fourteenth, respectively. President Obama was the
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Speaker 2: first black president still the only black president to address
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Speaker 2: it in twenty sixteen, and just like with a lot
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Speaker 2: of things we talk about, Black History Month has a
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Speaker 2: theme every year. This year the theme is a Century
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Speaker 2: of Black History Commemorations. Here's a quote from the Asalh site.
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Speaker 2: To understand the modern world, especially nations where black peoples
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Speaker 2: form a significant population, one must grapple with the impact
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Speaker 2: that the public observances have had on the past and
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Speaker 2: the present. This year, when we are also commemorating the
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Speaker 2: two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States Independence,
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Speaker 2: it is important to tell not only an inclusive history,
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Speaker 2: but an accurate one. We have never had more need
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Speaker 2: to examine the role of Black History Month than we
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Speaker 2: do when forces weary of democracies seek to use legislative
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Speaker 2: means and book bands to excise Black history from America's
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Speaker 2: schools and public culture. Black History's value is not its
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Speaker 2: contribution to mainstream historical narratives, but its resonance in the
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Speaker 2: lives of black people. Yeah, and when talking about why
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Speaker 2: Black History Month matters, there are a lot of articles
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Speaker 2: that argue while we should yes teach black history all year,
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Speaker 2: black History Month is a reminder. It's a call to
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Speaker 2: remember history that has often been whitewashed or erased. As
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Speaker 2: we said, this is especially important right now when the
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Speaker 2: current US administration is going out of its way to acknowledge,
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Speaker 2: to not acknowledge, Black History Month, and removing plaques about
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Speaker 2: slavery and national parks. The John F. Kennedy Center for
13:52
Speaker 2: the Performing Arts has no scheduled Black History Month events,
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Speaker 2: despite it being the one hundredth anniversary, we see continued
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Speaker 2: attacks on diversity initiatives and black history and public schools.
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Speaker 2: New regulations forced federal agencies to remove certain parts of
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Speaker 2: black history because, according to the administration, they paint the
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Speaker 2: US as quote inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.
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Speaker 1: It's interesting because I've been seeing a few mentions here
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Speaker 1: and there about how textbooks in the past and currently
14:35
Speaker 1: are founded based on white supremacist teachings and narratives. They're
14:40
Speaker 1: talking about the Reconstruction and the Civil War and the Antebellum,
14:44
Speaker 1: like how that all becomes romanticized and becomes a whole
14:48
Speaker 1: new conversation. I mean, I still vividly remember my AP
14:51
Speaker 1: history teacher. You're talking about how the Civil War was
14:54
Speaker 1: about state rights, and we were all like, yeah, sure, yeah.
14:57
Speaker 1: To be fair, I was the only non white person
14:59
Speaker 1: in that class, so nobody was going to push back
15:01
Speaker 1: on that, and I had no idea what was happening
15:04
Speaker 1: because we barely talked about it. But there has been
15:07
Speaker 1: more studies. One specific historian, Donald Yakovin yac O v
15:12
Speaker 1: O n E. Yeah, y'all know, specifically researched and looked
15:16
Speaker 1: over like years and years and years of textbooks and
15:21
Speaker 1: calls out what has happened and what has been happening
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Speaker 1: in a way that is so amazing to me that
15:28
Speaker 1: we're finally seeing the background of like, okay, okay, no,
15:32
Speaker 1: this is why we say we need specific months, because
15:36
Speaker 1: you don't teach it and just because you say Civil
15:40
Speaker 1: Wars taught doesn't mean it's actually being taught. And then
15:43
Speaker 1: like the historical context of the Daughters of the Confederacy
15:47
Speaker 1: literally pushing back and speaking to ask textbook writers and
15:53
Speaker 1: New York publishers who were in charge of textbooks, being like, yeah,
15:56
Speaker 1: we need to make sure that what we should show
15:59
Speaker 1: is that the black people, the enslaved people, do not
16:03
Speaker 1: have the intelligence to be a lead, so that that
16:07
Speaker 1: can be ingrained and that that level of racism can
16:10
Speaker 1: be ingrained into kids who are learning. And I'm putting
16:13
Speaker 1: that in quotes, and which is why people are scared
16:15
Speaker 1: of higher education when you start digging into those types
16:19
Speaker 1: of roots. And I think it's such a big conversation
16:24
Speaker 1: and I love this again. I'm definitely one of those like, yeah,
16:28
Speaker 1: they did pick the shortest month of the year. I
16:30
Speaker 1: think it's convenient though true. Sure, sure it was picked
16:35
Speaker 1: out originally because of that, but maybe a little bit
16:39
Speaker 1: of a conspiracy. Theoris was like, but if we have to,
16:41
Speaker 1: let's say it's for this like type of like underbreath
16:44
Speaker 1: type of thing. But you know, that's just my take
16:47
Speaker 1: on that. Especially knowing that even a month that has
16:51
Speaker 1: only like three days, less than a lot of the
16:55
Speaker 1: others still can't be celebrated is an absurdity in itself.
17:02
Speaker 1: But yeah, this kind of kind of narrative is that
17:06
Speaker 1: bigger conversation of why it is important that this happens.
17:10
Speaker 1: The fact that I didn't learn until in my career
17:14
Speaker 1: in my thirties about Juneteenth and why that was so
17:18
Speaker 1: important and why it is so important, and it's still
17:20
Speaker 1: mocked today by many of the conservatives in general, not
17:26
Speaker 1: like the what we would call moderate racists. I hate
17:32
Speaker 1: to put it in that caveat, but can't see that
17:35
Speaker 1: as a serious thing because a part of this ingrained
17:38
Speaker 1: racism that has been embedded into our schools.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And one of the things that a lot
17:49
Speaker 2: of the people when I was reading about this said,
17:53
Speaker 2: which we're going to get into in a minute, but
17:55
Speaker 2: the US is not the only country that has Black
17:58
Speaker 2: History Month. Is that a lot of it happened because
18:05
Speaker 2: black people and organizations realized this lack of knowledge, But
18:12
Speaker 2: they also were like, you know, when I was growing up,
18:15
Speaker 2: I didn't see myself in history and made me think
18:17
Speaker 2: that it didn't what I did didn't matter, like nothing,
18:23
Speaker 2: like if you don't see yourself, even though we do
18:27
Speaker 2: know that black people played fundamental roles in so many ways,
18:31
Speaker 2: if you don't see it in the history, it's important
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Speaker 2: to know that history right.
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Speaker 1: And then when we see it in history, it's oftentimes
18:41
Speaker 1: whitewash that there was a white person who was the
18:44
Speaker 1: actual hero in this story. Like when we talk about
18:47
Speaker 1: abolition and when we talk about revolution within the Civil
18:50
Speaker 1: Rights and Civil War, both of those eras, we still
18:53
Speaker 1: see a lot of white people and not in black
18:55
Speaker 1: people being highlighted more than those who have pulled themselves
19:01
Speaker 1: through and became the revolutionaries. Like that is that conversation too,
19:04
Speaker 1: The amount of people that we look like Abraham Lincoln
19:07
Speaker 1: being a champion of the end of slavery's like you
19:14
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like, yeah, sure, like he finally,
19:16
Speaker 1: but he did it in part not because he cared
19:20
Speaker 1: about freedom, but other political motivations in the conversation. And
19:25
Speaker 1: that's kind of this level of like who we're giving
19:28
Speaker 1: the accolades to, who we're giving credit to. So if
19:31
Speaker 1: we have to credit anything as good, then it needs
19:34
Speaker 1: to be given to the white man, right, Like that's
19:36
Speaker 1: kind of that level that we see, especially when we
19:38
Speaker 1: talk about it in historical context in public education.
19:43
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And I mean that's the thing that happens
19:47
Speaker 2: a lot when we're as an intersectional feminist podcast, when
19:50
Speaker 2: you're talking about feminism and white feminism, is that black
19:54
Speaker 2: women we're doing this work for so long, right, not
20:00
Speaker 2: getting the credit, the attention, not getting mentioned in textbooks
20:05
Speaker 2: like they should be now because they were doing they
20:10
Speaker 2: were laying the groundwork, they were doing all of the work,
20:13
Speaker 2: and just not mentioned in a class at all. So,
20:31
Speaker 2: as I said, the US is not the only country
20:35
Speaker 2: with Black History Month. The UK started celebrating it in
20:39
Speaker 2: October of nineteen eighty seven. That was the year that
20:43
Speaker 2: marked the one hundred and fifty years since slavery had
20:46
Speaker 2: been abolished in the Caribbean. A refugee from Ghana and
20:51
Speaker 2: the UK named Aquaba A de Sabot was the architect
20:55
Speaker 2: of the whole thing. Like Woodson, he wanted to see
20:59
Speaker 2: and celebrate rit more black history. Canada, Germany, and Ireland
21:04
Speaker 2: celebrate Black History Month. Two. Celebrations in Canada started in
21:08
Speaker 2: the nineteen eighties, but it was officially recognized across the
21:12
Speaker 2: country after Canada's first black male senator, Donald Oliver, introduced
21:17
Speaker 2: a motion to recognize it in the month of February
21:20
Speaker 2: in two thousand and eight. Germany started celebrating it in
21:23
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety thanks to the work of activist organizations. Ireland
21:29
Speaker 2: started officially celebrating it in twenty fourteen. All of this
21:33
Speaker 2: would not have been possible without the work and dedication
21:37
Speaker 2: of the black people and organizations working to preserve and
21:41
Speaker 2: celebrate this history. And it really is important in a
21:45
Speaker 2: lot of ways, like knowing the history so as not
21:48
Speaker 2: to repeat the same mistakes, but also just knowing the
21:52
Speaker 2: contributions of black people throughout and seeing that and learning
21:56
Speaker 2: that as kids as adults. This has been primary an
22:01
Speaker 2: episode focused on Black History Month in the United States,
22:04
Speaker 2: but listeners please write in I got really in the
22:08
Speaker 2: weeds about how, especially Germany's Black History Month happened, but
22:13
Speaker 2: it was too much for me to, I would have
22:16
Speaker 2: had to do a lot more research, but I would
22:20
Speaker 2: love to know more about it, and I would love
22:22
Speaker 2: to know what it looks like in other countries. I
22:26
Speaker 2: know you also have themes and also if there's another
22:31
Speaker 2: if other countries celebrate it, maybe not on a strictly
22:34
Speaker 2: official level, we would love to hear about that too.
22:39
Speaker 1: Right, I mean a lot of this is in First
22:42
Speaker 1: of all, it took over one hundred years, over one
22:45
Speaker 1: hundred years from the original week in the US to
22:49
Speaker 1: be acknowledged to be a month, and he was hoping
22:51
Speaker 1: for a year, which is the saddest thing I think
22:53
Speaker 1: I've ever heard in my life, and I'm sorry, one
22:55
Speaker 1: of the saddest things. But it is interesting, especially when
22:57
Speaker 1: you go into like the European areas, the Sea Black
23:01
Speaker 1: History Month being talked about or even acknowledged, when you
23:05
Speaker 1: have a lot of places that uses blackface as a
23:08
Speaker 1: part of some of their celebrations. So you're like WHOA,
23:11
Speaker 1: and a lot of like, I don't know if this
23:14
Speaker 1: is this could just be like the few things that
23:17
Speaker 1: I've seen, but a lot of people just accepted us
23:19
Speaker 1: it's historical and you're like yeah, yeah, So like you
23:27
Speaker 1: have a big like pause and in this like moment
23:30
Speaker 1: of conversation, especially when we also talk about and then
23:33
Speaker 1: we've talked about this many before, where areas they say
23:37
Speaker 1: they have like less incidents of racism or less like concerns.
23:40
Speaker 1: It's not because it's less racist, it's just because there's
23:42
Speaker 1: not a lot of minorities or those of marginalized communities
23:45
Speaker 1: in those areas. And I'm saying talking about specific states
23:48
Speaker 1: in this country as well, like when we've talked about
23:52
Speaker 1: like records lynchings, I talked about my hometown having one
23:55
Speaker 1: of the lowest records, which is amazing because they are
23:59
Speaker 1: really backwards and racist in a big Trump country. But
24:01
Speaker 1: that's because not many black people lived there, and that's why.
24:05
Speaker 1: So that's why they can boast this level of conversation.
24:08
Speaker 1: And if you talk about to people, including my people
24:11
Speaker 1: that are still alive today, talk about the fact how
24:14
Speaker 1: racist they were and they threatened the black community telling
24:17
Speaker 1: them don't come here, you will die here, like that
24:19
Speaker 1: was plainly known, and the fact that they can remember
24:22
Speaker 1: it because they heard it and knew it themselves, and
24:24
Speaker 1: they're still very much alive and well and still can't
24:27
Speaker 1: understand why the black community is like, no, we're not equal.
24:31
Speaker 1: You have not treated us equally. There was no equity here,
24:33
Speaker 1: and we need this. But it is interesting to see
24:36
Speaker 1: in these conversations in this context of who is actually
24:39
Speaker 1: understanding the importance and the need for things like Black
24:42
Speaker 1: History Month or Black History being known at all and
24:47
Speaker 1: undoing a lot of the historical bad. Interestingly, I just
24:53
Speaker 1: had something pop up on my FYP talking about that
24:57
Speaker 1: the moderates really are part of the motives of why
25:01
Speaker 1: things go as bad because a lot of the times
25:04
Speaker 1: we see moderates want to toe the line and keep peace.
25:08
Speaker 1: But keep peace means giving in and allowing for those
25:13
Speaker 1: who are the most extreme to do their most extreme
25:16
Speaker 1: and violent things in hopes to keep peace for themselves
25:19
Speaker 1: because they're not as in danger as those who are
25:22
Speaker 1: the more marginalized communities. And that's what with this conversation
25:25
Speaker 1: is like we have not learned because we don't talk
25:28
Speaker 1: about it. Instead, we give credit to them for not
25:30
Speaker 1: being like racists are violent themselves, you know what I'm saying,
25:34
Speaker 1: but not acknowledging that they didn't do anything either. They
25:37
Speaker 1: allowed it. And this is kind of that level of
25:39
Speaker 1: like this can be seen back to the Civil War,
25:44
Speaker 1: the enslavement, colonization, all that like this, like this doesn't
25:48
Speaker 1: feel right, But I don't want to push the boundaries
25:51
Speaker 1: too hard because you know, I'm not really being affected,
25:54
Speaker 1: but I do think this is wrong type of context.
25:57
Speaker 1: And when we lose that and when we lose those
26:00
Speaker 1: conversations and what the results were when those things happen,
26:05
Speaker 1: we continue to repeat those atrocities as we see.
26:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and that's why this is important. The history
26:15
Speaker 2: is important. The history is important. And as we said,
26:21
Speaker 2: all we're going to celebrate Black History Months, but also
26:26
Speaker 2: all year.
26:27
Speaker 1: We're intersectional. We know we have to talk.
26:30
Speaker 2: That's what it is, that's what it's about. But yeah,
26:35
Speaker 2: I really would love to hear from other listeners from
26:38
Speaker 2: other countries but also in the US. How is it
26:41
Speaker 2: looking for you? Happy Black History Month? I know it's
26:47
Speaker 2: a mess right now, but hopefully you're finding because there's
26:57
Speaker 2: a lot of events and unity that can happen and
27:01
Speaker 2: all that stuff. So just let us know, let us
27:05
Speaker 2: know what's going on, what you're thinking about. Uh, if
27:08
Speaker 2: you want us to come back and talk about more
27:10
Speaker 2: of the history of Black History Month and these other countries,
27:14
Speaker 2: let us know it. Just take a little bit more
27:16
Speaker 2: works like this is a lot of German history that
27:20
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to familiarize myself with. But yes, listeners,
27:27
Speaker 2: you can write into us at Hello at stuff onever
27:30
Speaker 2: told You dot com and yes, thank you to the
27:32
Speaker 2: listeners who did write in about this. You can find
27:36
Speaker 2: us on Blue Sky at mom Stuff podcast, or on
27:38
Speaker 2: Instagram and TikTok at stuff when We Never Told You.
27:41
Speaker 2: We're also on YouTube. We have some merchandise at com hero,
27:44
Speaker 2: and we have a book you can get wherever you
27:46
Speaker 2: get your books. Thanks as always too, our super dis
27:49
Speaker 2: Christina are executive for Sumaya and our contributor Joey. Thank
27:52
Speaker 2: you and thanks to you for listening Stuff I've Never
27:55
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