WHY BLACK HISTORY MONTH MATTERS
Every February, the same question rises again: why do we have a Black History Month, but not a White History Month? On the surface, it can sound like a fair question. But beneath it is a misunderstanding of what history has been remembered, who has been centered, and who has too often been left unnamed. Most of what we call “American history” has already been told through a white lens. Black History Month is not a subtraction from anyone else’s story; it is a restoration of voices that were long ignored, minimized, or deliberately erased.
For generations, Black Americans were present, faithful, brilliant, and courageous, yet absent from textbooks and pulpits. Their inventions were credited to others. Their churches were dismissed. Their suffering was explained away. Their victories were treated as footnotes. Black History Month exists because history did not tell the whole truth on its own. It is a corrective lens, not a competing one. When Scripture speaks of the body having many members, it reminds us that no part can say to another, “I have no need of you” (1 Corinthians 12:21). When one part is unseen, the whole body suffers loss.
There is no White History Month because white history has never needed help being remembered. It has been the default setting. Presidents, pastors, theologians, inventors, and heroes were assumed to be white unless stated otherwise. Black History Month does not say white history does not matter; it says Black history does. It says the story is bigger than what we were first handed. It invites us to listen more carefully and to tell the truth more fully.
This is not about guilt; it is about honesty. The Word of God never fears truth. It calls us to walk humbly, to do justice, and to love mercy (Micah 6:8). Honoring Black history is an act of justice, not because Black people—or any people—are superior, but because they are human, made in the image of God, and worthy of remembrance. When we tell the whole story, we honor the God who made one humanity from one blood and placed us in different times and places for His purposes (Acts 17:26).
The Church, of all people, should understand this. Our faith is built on remembrance. We remember the cross. We remember the resurrection. We remember the saints who suffered before us. Black History Month is simply an invitation to remember neighbors who have always been part of the story, even when the story refused to say their names.
___________
Lord Jesus, give us eyes that see truth clearly and hearts that are not afraid of it. Teach us to remember well, to honor rightly, and to love fully, as those who belong to one body under one Head. Amen.
BDD
