History is in the eye of the beholder

Some of you reading this might feel an uncomfortable little twinge in the gut, but I believe the time has come to honestly address an issue that a scarce few are willing to admit. The fact is, Black History Month, for many, feels more like a necessary evil than a 28-day celebration honoring the great African American accomplishments in this country and throughout the world.

I'm not talking about the many millions, regardless of race or religion, who connect with all that's reverent and worthy of honor and praise regarding Black History. Rather, I'm talking about the fact that, every February in all too many classrooms, there seem to be plenty of automated, lukewarm, prepackaged attitudes reflecting quiet apathy expertly disguised as respectful silence whenever it's time to put YouTube on the overhead projector to once again catch Martin Luther King Jr.'s noble pronouncement that, "I Have A Dream!"

But really, why aren't people as engaged about Black History Month as they could be? And not just about Black History Month, but "history" in general? After a recent phone call, I think I might understand.

I have to admit that as a child, my idea of "black history" had very little to do with Black History Month. From first grade through high school graduation, I never had to write a Black History term paper, but I also don't think I missed out on anything, because for one, I had a wealth of elders, older relatives, grandparents, uncles, and aunts like Aunt Ruth, who turns 95 next month. The oldest sister of my 92-year old grandmother, Olivia, has always been in my life, illuminating my own sense of history by teaching me my own as the starting point to eventually appreciating all history.

Have you ever known a person who remembers everything? That's my Aunt Ruth. About a month ago, she'd called to chastise me for not mailing the pictures of my children I'd promised to send before last Christmas, a promise that I'd long forgotten. She continues to stay current on everybody, both living and deceased, particularly her own grandmother, Clementine, affectionately called "Mama Clay" by her children and grandchildren.

OK here it is, the reason why, for me, "black history" was never an abstract, detached concept, foreign to the essence of my being. Mama Clay, whom Aunt Ruth knew all the years of her childhood and young adulthood, was born in 1835, when Andrew Jackson was president. As a 30-year old wife and mother, Mama Clay moved from Modest to Lemannville, Louisiana, just after "Peace Declare," the term she'd always used to describe anything taking place after the Civil War.

So today, I can still get information from a living human being who knew somebody who was around the day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865. A person born the same year as Mark Twain.

Aunt Ruth remains, to this very day, my go-to source for topical information about what's happening in my family, along with the overall historical arc of my family's experiences through slavery, emancipation, Jim Crow, industrialization, the 20th Century World Wars, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Because I know aspects of who I am and where I come from, based on those in my own world who came before me, then naturally, I can implicitly feel and relate to any other history, or histories outside of mine, as a barometer to a larger perspective and appreciation.

There isn't anything wrong with Black History, or any other human history, per se. However, in some ways, not knowing one's own personal journey, sometimes makes it difficult to more than know but to empathize with the journey of others, even those we honor during Black History Month.

A possible solution? Perhaps before finding out about "Black History Month" maybe we should start by giving all of those older relatives a call more often, and, tapping all of those untapped resources, gain a more firm grounding into our own individual pasts, thus also gaining a stronger relevance to the pasts of others.

Glenn Joshua, a native of New Orleans, is a creative writing instructor at Elgin Community College.