History Months

Living in the south presents many problems for a scholar, as I like to consider myself. One faces problems with race, political correctness, and the uneducated. It is difficult to express an opinion in the south without raising the ire of someone. However, I feel that opinions need to be expressed.

The current opinion that I feel needs to be expressed deals with this month of February. Technically, every month is supposed to be dedicated to celebrate the history of a particular group of people. February is Black History Month. March is designated as Women, Greek, and Irish Heritage Month. May is for Asian Pacific and Jewish Heritage. June for Caribbean Heritage. September is designated for Hispanic heritage. German, Italian, and Polish are supposed to be celebrated in October. Finally, November is Native American Heritage Month.

This sounds like a great idea, but living in the south you come to recognize a serious disproportionate amount of attention being placed on February. Every channel from ABC, to NBC, to CBS, to Disney, to the History Channel, they all pay special attention to Black History Month. I can’t turn on my TV without seeing some special segment highlighting some figure in African American History. This is wonderful. I am not saying that it is a bad thing to learn about the contributions of African Americans on history, the world, and America.

Not only is the whole month dedicated to one group but what about all the other months? Rarely do I see a special in March about great Women how have contributed to history, much less the contributions of Greek or Irish Americans. I cannot think of a time where I saw a commercial while waiting for a show to come on in May that highlights Asian Pacific or Jewish contributions. Or the Germans, Italians, or Polish in October. Nor do I see hardly anything besides Thanksgiving propaganda in November, rarely anything about actual Native American history or heritage.

Why do we put such emphasis on African Americans in the south and this country? Why is their history so much more meaningful and important than all the other groups in this country? Why can’t we teach and celebrate history as a whole? Why do we have to segment it in order to celebrate it and do it justice?

Created History

I have been thinking a lot lately about “created history.” That is to say, that Americans, as well as other countries, have created their histories by focusing and emphasizing specific things that will cast a specific light upon the country’s past. I will point out a few American examples because this is what I know of. I have not taken history courses in other countries but I am sure that there are many examples from all over the world.

                In America we glorify and de-politicize many of our previous leaders, while vilifying or ignoring others. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy are all praised as great American Presidents. While Presidents like Nixon are looked on as horrible presidents and a whole string of presidents in the early 1800s are simply forgotten. I admit, I don’t know many of them. We are not taught about them in school. I also admit to not knowing the whole story of Nixon and the Watergate scandal. But I think that is my point here.

                We are taught many specific things and about specific people in school and that is all we know. We have this image of George Washington and the cherry tree… then later the crossing of the Delaware. We have this image of Abraham Lincoln in his log cabin and later freeing the slaves. We have these in an attempt to instill specific thoughts and values into the country as a whole.

                In many schools today, things like The Bay of Pigs invasion or the Watergate scandal, both dark chapter sof American cold war history, are glossed over and often not taught at all. The same goes for many other Cold War era policies in regards to the Central and South American countries. Many places are still in turmoil due to the power struggles that the American government had its hand in. But this is also not taught in schools. I did not know about any of this until my classes in College.

                How do we justify that massive amounts of American history are being left out of the education of our youth? How can we expect them to grow up with the knowledge that they will need to deal with a world that is so closely interconnected nowadays? This is what leads to that question I hear so much “Why do they hate us?”

                Though, as I admitted before, Americans are not the only ones that take great strides to create their histories by emphasizing some things and ignoring others. The Japanese still are not fully acknowledging their involvement in using Korean Women as Comfort Women during the Second World War, for example.

                As a Historian this is something that I think about. The validity of history that has been written. It’s a question that I think about. What has been left out? What has been emphasized? What is the truth in the history

Thoughts on Patriotism

While reading a book for my Women and War Senior Seminar class, I came across this quote and found it very interesting. 

"Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots , each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt to impost his superiority upon all the others. " -Emma Goldman from her Patriotism as a "Menace to Liberty."

 For some perspective, Emma Goldman was born in Russia in 1869 and immigrated to New York in '86. She took part in many movements including anarchist movement, advocacy of birth control, and obstruction of the draft. She was deported in 1919 but would later return to the United states in 1924 after facing problems with the Bolsheviks in Russia. 

Her perspective on patriotism almost 80 years ago is still very relevant today. As Americans face war after war on foreign soil, we are faced with consistent opposition to the American way of life. I think it goes back to Goldman's statement on patriotism and the idea that each country, each little spot on a map, is far superior to every other one that could ever exist.  American's assume that they are the best country out there, while every other country believes the same about their own spot of land. Each country raises its children to be willing to fight and die for this belief. So why are we surprised when other countries fight against us and our way of life when we try to impose it upon them? We would fight to the death to "protect" our ideals from being wiped from the minds of our youth and off the face of history. Why is it so wrong for another country, another way of life, be so opposed to it?

This is not an uncommon practice, however. The lands conquered by the Romans often did not like the roman way of life being imposed upon them. The same goes for many Muslim conquered lands, as well as those lands affected by French, Spanish, British, and etc colonialism.  Though Patriotism really took hold in its extreme forms during the late 1800s and early 1900s when nationalism took hold. As more and more countries came into their own, patriotism seems to have grown. 

I guess my point is less about whether Patriotism is in fact a "Menace to Liberty" as Emma Goldman claims, but more to provide a different view on the practice. We assume that patriotism as an accepted fact and if you are not patriotic then you are not a good American or Britain or Italian, etc.  But perhaps it is the concept of Patriotism that is more flawed than the people who are supposed to hold the emotion.

V-day

As I sit in a class today, looking over at girls with their roses and fancy chocolates… smiles plastered on their faces, I can’t help but wonder why. Why has America have this fascination with Valentine’s day? Why do we spend thousands of thousands of dollars on chocolates and candy and roses and cards? Why do we choose this date to go to the movies, dinner, and other seemingly stereotypical romantic gestures? Why do we have this specific date as the day to tell the people you love that you love them? Should you do that all the time? It could be argued that this could be a contributing factor to why relationships fail. Do we gain false hopes from the gestures that are displayed on Valentine’s day and when the rest of the year doesn’t measure up, we are disappointed and angered that our loved one does not love us as much as we think they should.  But that is a topic for a different blog.

So in this thought process I began to wonder where Valentine’s Day came from. The obvious answer is the story of St. Valentine. A martyr who was beheaded by the Romans when he continued to marry young couples in a “Christian” manner. Though it is nearly impossible to know which Valentine the story is about, since it was such a popular name. However, even before Christianity took over the date of February 14^th just like they seemed to do for every one of their holidays, a pagan holiday existed.

Lupercalia was a roman festival holiday that took place on the evening of February 14 and into the next day. It was an idolatrous and sensuous festival for the “hunter of wolves,” Lupercus. It was a festival that often ended in teens deciding to follow more serious relationships with each other. Which I guess the later trends for “romance” and “love” originated.