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While I am grateful that Black History Month was given official recognition, the fact is that Black history should be acknowledged every day for all of us. Sadly, Black history is not what most of us were taught in our public schools. In ways big and small, the contributions of Black people in our country and world have been ignored, diminished, and too often erased.

My mother鈥檚 counter to the lack of representative history was to do what many Black families have done for generations 鈥� provide me and my brothers with that history at home. We had this adjacent home education presented through several modalities. I still have a cherished box of flashcards of famous Black people. It was organized alphabetically, so the image of is branded into my brain. My parents viewed Black history as essential to affirming the identities of their three Black boys growing up in poor rural White US.

Not seeing ourselves in the values and evolution of this country was a very real factor in how my brothers and I felt about ourselves. It was nearly impossible to find positive representations of Blackness in the elements of popular culture growing up in the 80s. Black men were often cast as villains, drug addicts, absent fathers, and other tired stereotypes. The best we might encounter was a Black sidekick to the White hero. If you are questioning how factual that is, check out this snapshot of the of the 1980s 鈥� only Coming to America stars a Black sidekick (and lead).

Our history curriculum in our rural school only served to reinforce these stereotypes. Black people were largely absent until the brief appearances of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, followed by a slightly less abbreviated mention of MLK Jr.鈥檚 seemingly singlehanded victory over racism in the 1960s. World history was Eurocentric and did little to mention the achievements of anyone other than White men. I vividly recall learning about the distinctive races: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, and Aboriginal. The way I was taught in school told me Black people had done little to shape the US and thanks to Lincoln and MLK we had already arrived at a 鈥渃olor-blind, merit-based鈥� society. Yet my daily experience told me otherwise.

Why is this important?

It鈥檚 important to me because we鈥檝e made palpable and real progress in telling a more comprehensive, representative story of US history in recent years. In the last twenty years, I have seen a steady increase in the positive representation of Black people throughout popular culture. I have been moved by mainstream stories that unpack a hidden US history in more complete and nuanced ways and honor the contributions of Black people (Hidden Figures, Marshall, 42, One Night in Miami, Red Tails, Ali, etc.). We finally see depictions where Black people are centered as heroes (Black Panther, Men in Black, Django, Get Out, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). All this may feel a little trite 鈥揵ut it matters. Kids like me and my brothers have finally begun to see our stories reflected in popular culture.

With this shift was an emerging dialogue about the impact of structural racism and a more complete retelling of our country鈥檚 past. The 1619 Project became an instant success, inspiring to bring it into our schools. Black Lives Matter became an anthem for all people who could see the injustices that disproportionately impact the Black community. Names like James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Daniel Hale Williams, Ed Dwight, Ruby Bridges, Ella Baker, and Ida B. Wells became more commonly known. People of all backgrounds became more observant and vocal about racial inequities and where anti-Blackness was evident. There was a movement toward acknowledgment and reconciliation for past harms directed toward Black people. The deleterious impact of redlining, housing covenants, the GI Bill, and more on Black families were no longer disregarded; instead, conversations about reparations emerged. The Confederate flag and Confederate monuments came down in many places. We were finally starting to talk about Black history鈥� our shared history. This was a civil rights movement in its own right, even if it didn鈥檛 involve protests and marches through city streets (mostly).

With every civil rights movement in the US comes the inevitable backlash.

Black History Month 2025 feels surreal given where we are at this moment. We are watching the dismantling of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across the country. DEI was about a lot more than just Black people, not only leveling the playing field for so many who had been shut out of opportunities before but also an acknowledgment that diversity wins in the US. But now it gets used to claim when women and people of color, especially Black people, are in positions they 鈥渉ave no business being in.鈥� A very troubling narrative has emerged about 鈥淒EI-hires,鈥� who are being scapegoated for plane crashes, government waste, disorderly withdrawals from war, bank failures, bridge collapses, and assassination attempts, to .

As a corporate executive friend recently shared, fellow business leaders are 鈥渇olding like wet napkins鈥� as they roll back DEI. Black History Month celebrations were canceled across the Pentagon. Affirmative action, a concept first introduced by President Lyndon Johnson, was just undone by a Supreme Court with three Trump appointees. (If you were ever on the fence about affirmative action, please read to the split Bakke decision.) Ruby Bridges鈥檚 book about her experience integrating schools, all actual history, is banned by several Texas school districts. The Florida state education board set middle school standards that recommend students learn about the 鈥渟kills鈥� enslaved Black people learned that could be 鈥渁pplied for their personal benefit.鈥� And in the middle of all this, the wealthiest man in the world just did a Sieg Heil (twice) for his new Fuhrer with absolutely no consequences.

Racism is incredibly addictive. Hatred is a powerful drug. Anti-blackness is an easy pathway to power and supremacy. Fear and othering fuel all of it. But unless you eradicate every shred of evidence about the contributions Black people have had, including eliminating us altogether, which no one has yet accomplished, Black people will still be here, and, with us, comes our powerful and rich history. Kendrick Lamar鈥檚 Superbowl halftime show was a reminder of this.

As inevitable as the backlash we are witnessing right now is, progress is also inevitable. US history shows us that. The progress we have seen in the number of people of all backgrounds acknowledging structural racism and confronting it with more honesty demonstrates that.

I鈥檓 reminded that we are still our ancestors' wildest dreams come true.

Our job as all people, Black people and everyone else alike, is to prevent this next attempt at our erasure. I have clarity now in the face of this effort to erase Black History. We have become the rearguard. Whether we want to celebrate Black History Month or not, Black History is all US history, every day of every year.

Just like my parents before me, I will never stop teaching my children their full history. And I am inspired knowing so many more of us than when my parents were raising three Black boys in the woods will do the same. So racism can cling to Confederate monuments and try to gloss over the impact of slavery in the US, but the fact is we are still here and truth will eventually prevail.

Happy Black History.