Black History Month: 5 Interesting Facts About the Annual Cultural Celebration
5. A call to end Black History Month?
In 2012, 29-year-old African-American documentarian Shukree Hassan Tilghman argued that Black History Month should no longer be observed.
In a film titled "More Than a Month" and aired by PBS, Tilghman reasoned that the February celebration wrongfully separates black history from mainstream American history.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"He stops in various cities, wearing a sandwich board, to solicit signatures on his petition to end the observance. He explains that relegating Black History Month to the coldest, shortest month of the year is an insult, and that black history is not separate from American history," noted PBS.
"Tilghman's campaign to end Black History Month is actually a provocative gambit to open a public conversation about the idea of ethnic heritage months, and whether relegating African-American history to the shortest month of the year — and separating it from American history on the whole — denigrates the role of black people and black culture throughout American history."
A 2012 television review from The New York Times was more critical of the documentary, labeling it "meandering" and "indecisive" albeit occasionally amusing.
"He has a chance to explore this notion further by confronting those who might prefer that black history remain marginalized or by pressing advocates of Black History Month on whether they are to some extent guilty of a control-the-story mentality themselves," stated the review.
"Instead he veers onto a few more side stories and arrives at such a waffly ending that you can no longer tell whether he favors or opposes Black History Month."
