Savannah’s three living Black mayors and Clifton Jones, a former alderman who served under the late Floyd Adams, gathered together to reflect on the impact Black leadership has had on the Hostess City.
Wanda S. Lloyd / For Savannah Morning News
In her children’s book “Carter Reads the Newspaper,” author Deborah Hopkinson described the life of scholar and historian Carter G. Woodson, the second African American to graduate from Harvard University (W.E.B. DuBois was the first).
The author wrote: “At Harvard, so the story goes, one of Carter’s professors said Black people had no history. … Carter spoke up. ‘No people lacked history,’ he said. The professor challenged him to prove him wrong.”
I’ve been challenged over the years about why we celebrate Black History Month. I grew up in a time and in a family that always encouraged pride in reading about the accomplishments of Black people in the United States. I have long held that we must also share Black history with people who are not African American, something I’ve done in my adult years. While the traditional month of celebration is important, we should recognize Black history every day.