Overview: The article discusses the importance of recognizing and celebrating Black history, as established by Carter G. Woodson in 1926, and expanded to Black History Month in 1976. It highlights the African principle of Sankofa, which teaches us to draw on the lessons of the past to inform the present and future. The author emphasizes that forgetting the past is a form of ignorance that weakens the foundation of a community. The article also acknowledges that progress comes through understanding and honoring the lessons of the past, and that Black lives are symbolic of the cultural, spiritual, and philosophical markers and milestones left along the way.
S.E. Williams
“If a race has no history,” Carter G. Woodson wrote in 1926, “it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.”
As a Black American, I thank Woodson for his insight and commitment to a belief that ultimately led to the establishment of Negro History Week and eventually, Black History Month.
Before it was expanded to Black History Month in 1976, and although there are innumerable jokes about Black folks being given the shortest month of the year to celebrate their collective heritage, Woodson initially selected the second week in February to celebrate Negro History Week as a way to align this reflective and celebratory occasion with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass—celebrated February 12 and 14 respectively. Thus, Woodson’s initial week of acknowledgement was expanded to incorporate the entire month of February.
On the other hand, of course, there are those who are against even a single minute being set aside in recognition of Black history. Even further, although Trump acknowledged and celebrated Black History month during his first term, his actions against minority communities during his current administration is perceived as deplorable by many observers regardless of whatever disingenuous comments he’s uttered related to Black History Month this year.
All we need to do to be reminded of Trump’s animosity toward Blacks is to remember his insulting approach to Black History Month 2025. Last year on January 31, Trump signed a proclamation declaring February 2025, Black History Month. He did so just days after insulting the Black community by signing executive orders on Martin Lughter King Jr.’s birthday, that put an end to national Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives.
“Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.”
Carter G. Woodson
America’s Black community doesn’t need Trump or anyone else’s approval to acknowledge our ancestors, the history and lessons they bequeathed to us, or the future they envisioned. We carry all of this in our DNA.
Carter Woodson understood the African principle of Sankofa—a dynamic symbol of the Akan people of Ghana in Africa. The literal translation of Sankofa means “go back and fetch it.” It teaches us to go back to the lessons and practices of the past, to draw on those lessons and use them not only to inform the present, but also to inform the future. Sankofa reminds us there is nothing wrong with going back to retrieve something from the past you may have forgotten.
Sankofa embodies not only the concepts of humility, reflection, and respect for the ancestors, it also teaches us that progress comes through understanding and honoring the lessons of the past.
The Akan gifted the world two symbols for Sankofa: The mystical Sankofa bird that is depicted looking back over its shoulder with an egg in its beak. The bird’s body is planted in the present and facing forward in the direction of the future-but its head is turned facing backward usually with an egg held gently in its beak. This symbolizes that life moves forward and cannot be lived in reverse. However, the head looking backward reminds us that we cannot move successfully and wholly into the future without taking with us the lessons of the past. The egg carried so gently in the bird’s beak represents the potential of the future that must be lifted and propelled forward by what came before.
The other Akan Sankofa symbol—the Sankofa heart, is a stylized heart with symmetrical spirals meant to represent the importance of returning to the past in order to draw lessons that inform both the present and the future.
Whether one prefers the symbol of the Sankofa Bird or the Sankofa Heart, it is important that we remember both physically and spiritually the cultural and philosophical teachings symbolized by Sankofa and the physical sacrifices of those who came before by remembering the cultural, spiritual, philosophical markers and milestones they left along the way.
The Akan teach that forgetting the past is a form of ignorance that not only weakens the foundation of a community, but it also dismisses the importance of ancestral teachings. Teachings like those captured in the poetry of Langston Hughes that come to mind when I read stories of successful Black women like Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, Ketanji Brown Jackson and others–not only those on grand stages but those in our everyday lives, including our mothers, our sisters, aunts, neighbors and friends—-all our Black lives are symbolic of what Hughes wrote:
“I am the dark girl who crossed the red sea, carrying in my body the seed of the free. I am the woman who worked in the field, bringing the cotton and the corn to yield. I am the one who labored as a slave, beaten and mistreated for the work that I gave. . . I couldn’t read then. I couldn’t write. I had nothing, back there in the night. Sometimes, the valley was filled with tears, but I kept trudging on through the lonely years. Sometimes, the road was hot with the sun, but I had to keep on till my work was done: I had to keep on! No stopping for me—I was the seed of the coming Free. . .”
As Woodson so aptly reminded, “The man [woman] who has no history is like a tree without roots.”
Of course this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.