Learning With the ‘Black History, Continued’ Series

There are many other compelling pieces in the “Black History, Continued” series that are not included in the five Lessons of the Day we listed above. Choose another article from the collection or watch a video from the project’s YouTube Playlist. Then, respond to the following prompts in writing or through discussion with a partner:

• Which article or video did you choose and why?

• What did the piece make you think or feel? What personal connections can you make to the subject matter?

• What was most memorable, surprising, provocative or affecting?

• How did the images or visuals help tell the story?

• How does the new article or video deepen or challenge your understanding of Black history?

• What further questions does it raise?

IV. Pitch the Next Story in the Series

Dodai Stewart, the deputy editor for Narrative Projects, writes:

Black history is not a static and stately historical record but a living narrative that’s still unfolding, with many more stories to tell.

Make a pitch to the editors of the “Black History, Continued” series: What topics, themes, traditions or stories in Black history would you like the series to tell next? What do you think is still missing, overlooked or misrepresented?

Your elevator pitch should include the following: What’s your idea? How would it fit and further the series’s goals of exploring “pivotal moments and transformative figures in Black culture” and “how the past shapes the present and the future”? Why would this subject be engaging or enlightening to Times readers? What is your own personal connection to the subject? Why do you think it’s overlooked, misunderstood or ignored? How does it lend itself to rich visual and written storytelling?

To help you find compelling and overlooked stories, past and present, you might begin by searching The Times’s Race/Related Topics page or by exploring these outside resources:

V. Reflect on the Meaning and Lessons of ‘Black History, Continued’

What are the big takeaways from the series for you? How has it changed how you see Black history — and American history as a whole? How successful is the series in reaching its goals? Choose one or more of the prompts below in writing or in discussion with a partner:

• What are your reactions to the articles you read and the series as a whole? What does it make you think and feel? How does the series affect how you think about Black history?

• Shelton Johnson, a park ranger featured in one of the articles in the series, said: “A storyteller is a healer and a good story has always been good medicine. The right story at the right time can heal the world.” Do you agree? What is the power of storytelling and the stories explored in the series? How have the words, images and stories in this series affected, touched, enlightened or moved you? Which moments and details stand out and why?

• How do the subjects, themes and stories explored in “Black History, Continued” relate to your own life and experiences, and those of your family and community? What wisdom, inspiration and life lessons can you draw?

• How Black history is taught in schools is still a battleground today. For example, a new Texas law forbids teaching that “slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from, betrayals of, or failures to live up to, the authentic founding principles of the United States.” A recent Florida rule bans the teaching of the 1619 Project in public schools. Published in 2019 by The New York Times Magazine, the 1619 Project “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States‘ national narrative.” And to date, more than 20 states — including New Hampshire, Michigan and Arkansas — have introduced regulations that restrict teaching about race and racism. What do you think of these efforts to restrict how schools teach about Black history, race and racism?

• In “How Negro History Week Became Black History Month and Why It Matters Now,” Veronica Chambers concludes:

Why does Black History Month in particular, and the study of Black history overall, still matter so much? “There’s no question that history is and continues to be a battleground. The origin stories that we tell matter a great deal for where we set the bar and how we set the bar going forward,” noted Professor Jones, of Johns Hopkins. “So when you talk about people like Carter G. Woodson, these are men who knew that if you don’t rewrite the history of Africans and people of African descent, if you don’t rewrite the history of the United States through the lens of Black history, if you don’t make that record and if you don’t make that case, there are [false] stories that will expand and go toward rationalizing and perpetuating racism, exclusion, marginalization and more.”

What’s your reaction to the quote? After having engaged with the series, why do you think that the ways in which Black history is written, learned and taught matter so much? Do you agree that “if you don’t rewrite the history of the United States through the lens of Black history,” false stories will continue and contribute to “rationalizing and perpetuating racism, exclusion, marginalization”?