This Black History Month, Let’s Amplify Being ‘WOKE’

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An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Some Exhibits to Come – One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

Bibliography – One Hundred Years Of Jim Crow

Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.

Freedom’s Heroes During Jim Crow: Flossie Bailey and the Deeters

Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.

An Iconic Lynching in the North

Claxton Dekle – Prosperous Farmer, Husband & Father of Two

Ancient manuscripts about mathematics and astronomy from Timbuktu, Mali

Some Exhibits to Come – African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles for Adults & Children from the Henrietta Marie

Some Exhibits to Come – The Middle Passage

What I Saw Aboard a Slave Ship in 1829

Life After Hate: A Former White Power Leader Redeems Himself

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February 1, 2023

By Ronald Walker, Word in Black

This year, Ron Walker is spreading the message that we need to be “working on knowledge equally” as it relates to Black history.

A Black man reading "Great Rulers of the African Past" — “Wokeness” has led to an increase in learning about Black history (Wikimedia Commons)

As we enter February, the designated month for the appreciation of Black History, a critical question may arise from those who are not Black. That question might be, “why does Black History matter?”

[…]

As a Black History major at Lincoln University, surrounded by a wealth of information about the immense and significant contributions made by Black Americans, I gained a true appreciation of them. This experience of authentic learning helped to affirm and shape my identity.

As I began to know my history, I began to know my power. I was also able to read a treasure trove of books and writings about the achievements of Black people that provide the reader with well-researched facts that were not found within the traditional U.S History texts used in K-12 public schools.

If it were not for Lincoln University and its professors dedicated to teaching a comprehensive history, I would not have fully appreciated the contributions, inventions, and acts of courage performed by Black Americans.

Learn how Walker has taught Black history.

Learn more about Black history in our online exhibit galleries.

Keep up with Black news articles.

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