Black History Month: reflecting on heroes

When pioneering historian Carter G. Woodson chose in 1926 to spotlight the multilayered past of blacks in America, he purposely situated a weeklong celebration amid the Feb. 12 birthday of former President Abraham Lincoln and Feb. 14, the approximate birthday of Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, abolitionist and backer of suffragists.

With those famous men as his standard-bearers, Woodson was aiming to highlight what humanity has in common and the particular strides and challenges of black people who are part of that human family.

Over the decades, Woodson's initiative has grown, shifted and morphed into Black History Month. The commemorative and instructional observance remains an essential aspect of American culture for many.

Not that the month is without its critics. They argue the designated month represents a throwback in a multicolored nation that has made some racial progress and woven more black history into the broader, official American story. Some contend that setting aside a point on the calendar to highlight any group's history is its own kind of segregation.

Still, carving out time to salute black history is important to the Long Islanders featured here. A barber, coach, fifth-grader, judge, physician and quilter, an imam and entrepreneurs all said they give much more than a passing nod to Black History Month and to black history-makers, those well known and barely known.

"Black History Month is sort of like Christmas Day for me," said Dr. Aubrey Lewis, whose office is in Merrick. "This month helps me to sit back and look at all these important people, the things they've done and the things that many continue to do. It is, for me, a reflective time, almost like a meditation."

Joan Hodges

Quilter, doll-maker, civil rights activist from Hempstead

Hero: Union Army spy and Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman.

Why: "She became my hero in the '50s and '60s when 'black is beautiful' was starting to happen and we marched on Washington. She was a runaway slave who freed slaves. She was dynamic. And she was determined that she was not going to be anybody's slave. There's a lesson in that."

Favorite Black History Month memory: Shaking the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s hand during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and witnessing President Barack Obama's election. "I never thought that would happen in my lifetime."

Imam Al-Amin Abdul Latif

Masjid Allahu Akbar, Wyandanch

Hero: The Prophet Muhammad

Why: "I found the prophet to be the right role model [through] his mercy, his compassion, his example as a father, as a husband, a neighbor, his example as a friend, and the way he dealt with his enemies. He conquered the hearts of those who'd persecuted him for 19 years by going back and granting amnesty for everybody. Mankind -- right now -- needs to look at that history. We live in a hostile time when even some Muslims don't follow the prophet's example. If we examine the prophet, we would learn something about bringing peace, kindness, mercy into the world."

Favorite Black History Month memory: "I don't have one. I just focus on trying to be a better person for my children, my family and the people I interact with daily."

Justice Michele Woodard

State Supreme Court, Nassau County

Hero: Judge Jane Matilda Bolin, first black woman to be appointed a judge in the United States.

Why: "She went to Wellesley in 1928 and Yale in 1931. She was bold, she was daring, she was fearless. I like that. And that makes me capable of doing what people, in the past, had told me I couldn't do. I ran five [elections] in a row before I got this job. That's the kind of stuff that Jane Matilda Bolin was all about: not giving up."

Favorite Black History Month memory: During the first year of the now annual Black History Month program that she launched for the Nassau County courts, hosting a multiracial group of 40 judges at a restaurant on Franklin Avenue in Mineola -- "so that all the judges could appreciate our shared history and culture."

Dr. Aubrey Lewis

Cardiologist and internist in Merrick, who also runs a free clinic in Hempstead for the uninsured and underserved

Hero: Former political prisoner and South African President Nelson Mandela.

Why: "His mother died, and he wasn't able to attend the funeral because he was in prison. His son died, and he wasn't able to get there either. He gave up all that for his community. That's how God tells us to live: 'Love the Lord, your God . . . and your neighbors as yourself.' I'm trying to live in the community as Mandela, who is an old man now, lives in the community -- not just talking theoretically about living in the community but really doing what I can."

Favorite Black History Month memory: The thought of "all the people who preceded me."

Leon "Levar" Broughton

Barber and owner of Trimz in Freeport

Hero: Madam C.J. Walker, millionaire CEO and hair products manufacturer/seller.

Why: "I study this work; I don't just do it. And, wow, she's such a great inspiration. She did things in the hair business that, for a black female in her time [early 1900s], is mind-blowing . . . She created a brand. I am creating a brand."

Favorite Black History Month memory: When Barack Obama made history as the nation's 44th president.

Fynisha Blue

Fifth-grader at Barack Obama Elementary School, Hempstead

Hero: President Barack Obama

Why: "He's a good family man. He spends a lot of time with his children. My school is named after him. I love the way he broke the color barrier. It shows me that we can do anything -- no matter the color of our skin. If you have a positive attitude, you can do anything you want."

Favorite Black History Month memory: Learning about Langston Hughes' poems in Miss Johnson's fourth-grade class, especially "the poem about dreams."

Darah Smith

Owner of TaxSmith, an income tax preparation and financial services firm in Freeport

Hero: Madam C.J. Walker

Why: "Her parents were born into slavery. . . . She was, basically, illiterate, but she still became an inventor and a philanthropist. . . . In this day and age, when so many people make excuses about why they can't do something or don't have something, I look at Madam C.J. Walker and how she let nothing stop her from building [beauty] colleges and becoming a millionaire. I'm very much inspired by that."

Favorite Black History Month memory: "This month is not just about getting recognition from other races but us recognizing ourselves for who we are and what we've done and what we can do better. It helps the younger generation see how they can make a good life for themselves or change a family pattern. That's what gives this time special meaning for me."

Rob Blount

Oceanside High School football coach

Hero: Dad Joseph Blount and Lou Andre, Blount's coach at Lawrence High School.

Why: "In elementary school my three brothers and I had so much going on, and my father found a way to make things happen: working overtime. Being at our games. Preaching academics to us. It was good to have a father at home who was solid . . . Coach Andre was also close to me. And it's the people close to you who mean the most, not the professional [athletes], not the things that aren't tangible. My heroes are hands-on, hardworking people, doing their everyday grind . . . and sharing my values."

Favorite Black History Month memory: "As a youngster, being educated about Martin Luther King's strides in making sure equal opportunity was afforded to all Americans. That affects me today. . . . The changes in this nation and in this society have made race much less of an issue."

Evelyn Daniels

Retiree and former owner of

a Riverhead hair salon

Hero: Rosa Parks, who sparked the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama by refusing to give up her seat to a white male passenger.

Why: "I was in Riverhead then, a hairdresser, doing hair when I found out Rosa Parks stood up for her rights . . . She kept her seat, and she didn't go to the back of the bus where they told all the black people to sit. Her strength and ability to stand up for her own rights provides an opportunity for us to learn how to be strong and stand up for our rights, too."

Favorite Black History Month memory: Martin Luther King headed that big march [on Washington in August 1963]. . . . that's the biggest thing I think about during Black History Month."

Timur Davis

Historian and librarian, Wyandanch Public Library

Hero: Public historian, librarian, author and professor John Henrik Clarke, the first American awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during peacetime, the first person licensed to teach African and African-American history in New York State.

Why: "I met Dr. Clarke at a cultural function in Newark when I was 18. He gave me his number and mentored me. The first time I went to his house in Harlem, I remember thinking that I'd never seen so many books in my life. He was a great example of a great mind, with an amazing capacity to retain and process information. What he taught was the importance of not just studying black history but studying it in relation to world history and of knowing your place in terms of history's impact."

Favorite Black History Month memory: Finding out that the word "Negro" was replaced with African-American in 1966, largely as a result of Richard B. Moore, a Harlemite and bibliophile, advocating that change.

Father of Black History Month

Carter G. Woodson, an educator, historian and scholar, is known as the "father of Black History Month." He was adamant in his belief that the history and achievements of African-Americans should be accurately recorded and taught in the nation's schools. In 1976 -- 50 years after Woodson established a week celebrating the achievements of African-Americans -- then-President Gerald Ford expanded it to include the entire month of February.

Did you also know that:

Woodson was the second African-American to earn a PhD from Harvard University. The first was writer and historian W.E.B. DuBois.

PS 23 and a children's park, both in Brooklyn, are named after him. Woodson died in 1950.

He attended school only on rainy days, when he could not work in the farm fields. Woodson finished high school when he was 20 years old and later served as the school's principal.

The University of Virginia's Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American & African Studies is named in honor of Woodson, who was born in Virginia in 1875.

His home in Washington, D.C., has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

In honor of Woodson's efforts to promote the study of African-American history, an ornament of him hangs on the White House Christmas tree each year.

Sources: University of Virginia; Association for the Study of African-American Life and History; National Park Service; Christian Science Monitor