“History is written by the victors” NOT a Winston Churchill quote, and not true in the case of the American Civil War. Things like Black History Month are important because, depending on where you were raised, you may have heard or seen a version of history that leaves out a lot of information. Where else in the world are residences exposed to and/or told stories from the point of view of the defeated community who believed that they were entitled to own other human beings? 

Let me be clear, there are not two or multiple versions of history. It’s just that all humans filter the flow of time in a way that is digestible, in the form of stories. Being able to tell the stories that were suppressed and/or ignored because they interfered with the stories of the dominant culture, is what Black History Month is all about. There isn’t a White History Month because all of history that was being told has been told from the viewpoint of white mostly European males, so there’s no need to a White History month. And, it doesn’t need to be a binary this history versus that history sort of thing. It should be additive and not reductive. It should fill out the picture from angles and points of view that previous versions of the story “neglected” or just weren’t aware of or interested in. It’s important we are all given the opportunity to tell our stories and find more depth from those stories that show other sides of the experience and maybe correct some assumptions we’ve relied in our ignorance. We have a long way to go and those attempting to censor this narrative are showing their bias and unwillingness to realize that theirs is not the only story.