Historian Carter G. Woodson, who during the Harlem Renaissance founded Black History Week––later to become Black History Month––was a powerful visionary able to resist the constant denigration of his people’s humanity as represented by institutional racism and counter it with more positive affirmations made through groundbreaking research and publications. While twentieth century organizations such as the American Eugenics Society and the Ku Klux Klan devoted their resources to asserting the inferiority of African Americans, Woodson valiantly identified among his people examples of genius and innovation that revealed a very different story.
The great historian’s goal and impact went beyond documenting the accomplishments of people of African descent simply for the sake of preserving history. Like the work of W.E.B. Bois, Arturo (Arthur) Schomburg, and Joel Augustus Rogers, it also strengthened African Americans’ future battle for civil rights and racial equality in all spheres of American life.
Anyone inclined to dismiss that observation as one no longer relevant in the twenty-first century need only consider the pounding and hounding that President Barack Obama endured until pressured into producing his birth certificate (some, in fact, claim the one finally provided is fake and demand even further proof of his birthplace). Or consider the emphasis any number of political factions place on finding someone specifically to defeat him in the 2012 U.S. presidential election as opposed to finding someone who might actually do a better job as president under the current economic and political conditions with which the United States and other countries are grappling.
Recap of 2011 Countdown
Much of what has comprised African-American history since Woodson’s time often astonished those who actually made the history and likely would have dazzled Woodson as well. What follows is a recap of the Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011. The list exemplifies not only the kind of people and events that make exceptional African-American history, but those which stand out (and not always in a manner considered good) as extraordinary occasions in the history of humanity:
Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011
10.Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No.10 Samuel L. Jackson’s $7 Billion Triumph
9. Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No. 9 Belafonte’s New Song
8. Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No 8 Execution in Georgia
7. Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No. 7 And Still Women Rise
6. Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No. 6 Jazzman Sonny Rollins
5. Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No. 5 Those Now Departed
4. Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No. 4 the MLK Jr. Memorial
3. Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No. 3 Afro-descendants Worldwide
2. Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: No. 2 President Obama
1. Countdown of 10 Amazing Moments from the Year 2011: Number 1
NEXT: Notebook on Black History Month 2012 Part 2: Remembering Arthur Ashe
by Aberjhani, National African American Art Examiner
co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
and co-author of ELEMENTAL the Power of Illuminated Love
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