Black history is American history

You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.

    — Malcolm X, “Malcolm X Speaks,” 1965

Is it still necessary to have February as Black History Month? Shouldn’t we by now know the story? Sadly, no. It’s been far from a simple task to compile a true record of the legacy of black Americans. History is written by those in power, and much has been left out of the original official record. Many, for example, are still in denial that there was slavery in Connecticut.

It is to the credit of many contemporary historians, including local historians, who have dug deeper to find the truth that there is now much new writing that includes a fuller story of communities large and small throughout the country. Americans like to believe that the way things are done in the United States reflects right, not wrong. But this is not now and has not in the past always been the case. Certainly the impetus is here to have equality for all; reality has not, however, always met that challenge. It’s been barely a century and a half since slavery flourished, a short time in the lives of nations. Even with the election of an African-American president now part of this nation’s history, inequalities continue.

A valuable way to overcome prejudice and injustice is education and action. It’s better to know what went on in the past, however wrong, and to act for change. All Americans should take the opportunity of Black History Month to absorb some facts they didn’t know before about the inspiring and complex history of black Americans.

Thanks to the Upper Housatonic Valley African-American Heritage Trail (visit africanamericantrail.org on the Internet), we have a good starting place in  the hardcover book “African American Heritage in the Upper Housatonic Valley.” A prominent figure in the book is  W.E.B. Du Bois, who was born in Great Barrington, Mass.  He wrote fondly of his childhood there and became a leading intellectual advocate for social justice for Americans black and white. The Heritage Trail has just printed a pamphlet walking guide to Du Bois sites in Great Barrington. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, which holds the massive Du Bois Papers, also owns the Du Bois Boyhood Homesite on Route 23 in Great Barrington — and has created a small park with walking trail, an enlightening half-hour visit once spring comes. (Learn more at thewebduboiscenter.com.) Another Du Bois Center in Great Barrington, unaffiliated with UMass, has a visitors’ center on South Main Street next to North Star Books. (Visit duboiscentergb.org for information.)

The history of black and other ethnic Americans is the history of all America. And let’s not forget the place of women in our male-dominated historical record. All of our stories need to converge and establish the true picture of the fabric of our nation.

Until American history is understood as a whole, organically, the effects of social injustice will continue to damage American life and make it difficult for all Americans to find peace or freedom. And until true American history is understood as a whole, those in political power will continue to twist and distort it, unchallenged, to achieve their own ends.