Black History Month: reflecting on heroes
John Henrik Clarke was a writer, historian, professor and a pioneer of Africana studies. A professor of African World History, he was founding chairman in 1969 of the Department of Black and Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College at the City University of New York. He also was the Carter G. Woodson Distinguished Visiting Professor of African History at the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University. In 1968, along with the Black Caucus of the African Studies Association, Clarke founded the African Heritage Studies Association. (Circa 1988) Credit: Anthony Barboza
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
Imam Al-Amin Abdul Latif
Masjid Allahu Akbar, Wyandanch
Justice Michele Woodard
State Supreme Court, Nassau County
Dr. Aubrey Lewis
Cardiologist and internist in Merrick, who also runs a free clinic in Hempstead for the uninsured and underserved
Leon "Levar" Broughton
Barber and owner of Trimz in Freeport
Fynisha Blue
Fifth-grader at Barack Obama Elementary School, Hempstead
Darah Smith
Owner of TaxSmith, an income tax preparation and financial services firm in Freeport
Rob Blount
Evelyn Daniels
Retiree and former owner of
a Riverhead hair salon
Timur Davis
Historian and librarian, Wyandanch Public Library
Father of Black History Month
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.
