Kwame Speaks: Still No Work, Consequently We Lack a Celebration

In 1943 the founder of Negro History Week, Carter Godwin Woodson, wrote that "[Negro History Week] is the week set aside by the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History for the purpose of emphasizing what has already been learned about the Negro during the year." In March of 1950, Woodson lamented the African-American community in an article entitled "No Work and Consequently No Celebration."


It was written in The Negro History Bulletin, also founded by Woodson. The article criticized the celebration of Negro History Week without having studied the lives and work of the Negro prior to or after February.

Expanded and renamed "Black History Month" in 1973, the problem exposed by Woodson continues to plague us today. Instead of adhering to the guiding principles developed by Woodson at Negro History Week's inception, we consistently waste the time allotted to experience nostalgia- reminiscing on the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements but seldom discussing ways to build new and effective movements.


I do not encourage the Black community to disregard the work of our ancestors, I do encourage that we use those memories as a framework to construct new ways to uplift the race. What have we (especially the student body of Howard University) done that warrants a celebration this February?


We are students of a historically Black university; therefore, we must acknowledge that our duty is to rescind the necessity for Black History Month. We must make an effort to integrate our history into the collective history of the human experience, as it is not separate. Otherwise we will continue to fall victim to the cyclical nature of failure.


February: the only month we discuss the outdated accomplishments of our ancestors.

Which of us will be the subject of a middle school student's report in the year 2040? Let us be aware that our work lies not within how many names and dates we can recite from the past, but how many footsteps we can leave for future generations to follow.

Until the black experience, in its most accurate form, is the subject of discussion whenever there is one regarding history, there is work to be done. Let us not be weary, but let us push forth and be the harbingers of a new era.


As a community, we must produce quality work, lest Carter G. Woodson's labors be in vain. No longer can we celebrate what has been done or what we wish to do. I urge us all to celebrate what we are doing and breathe life into the unfinished efforts of Woodson and his like-minded counterparts.

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Sheneese Thompson
(Published 2-16-11)