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As an academic tool, historical memory is an incredibly useful source for not only examining historical attitudes, but understanding the presence they hold in modernity. As a student of history, I am fascinated by not only what history books and firsthand accounts share, but what the people of today have to say about their history. As a southern woman, and a minority, this time of the year presents an interesting look into the collective memory of a specific people. Black History Month, along with setting aside a designated time for the United States to facilitate a national dialogue on race, serves as a rare window into the cooperative psyche of southern Americans, both black and white.
This month is more poignant for the American South because there is nowhere else in the United States that fosters such a romanticized and nostalgic historical memory of the Civil War and all of its consequences. That is not to say that the South is the most racist, because it certainly is not. The foundation for cultural attitudes is not so general that it can be attributed to racism or some other form of base bigotry. The glory of a Lost Cause is buried within the honor of those who gave up their lives for it. In some ways, the war is never really over.
Sleeping within the small cities and towns below the Mason-Dixon there is a curious time warp. As the rest of the United States plunges deeper into the twenty-first century, the traditions of the South become all the more obstinate and proud. It would be easy to write these traditions off as a holdover from past generations, manifested as a Confederate flag hanging on a barn, or the residual members of the Third Wave of the Ku Klux Klan that still stain Dixie. But there is something deeper, perhaps darker, but in the long run infinitely more promising.
Black History month should not just be a time for exploring the history and culture of African-Americans, but a time to reflect on the attitudes of everyone. There is no universal truth or answer to the problems we face. As a biracial scholar I struggle to deal with the concept that in many ways I will never know my history. When you are black in the United States—barring a few exceptions and cases of luck—your history will almost always begin at the same place: slavery. For so many people in this country, there is no way to know where they truly come from, and that is what Black History month is meant to help alleviate. However, it is not enough just to know and to celebrate; we must look at where we’ve come from and everyone must examine the rhetoric we use to remember.
Victoria Allen is a sophomore McConnell Scholar from Auburn, KY. Allen is studying political science and history.