Many associate Black History Month with a negative stigma. Hint: this month is not to remind you of slavery and the pitfalls of black people. This month is a celebration of those who trail-blazed a trendsetting pattern of innovators, creators, skilled artists and civil rights legends. Ultimately, black history is American history whether some like it or not, and I'll show you how.
The great city of Chicago, Illinois was founded by a black, Haitian man, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable around the late 1700s.
The laserphaco probe, a device which created a less painful and more precise treatment of cataracts, was invented by Patricia Bath in 1986. Patricia is the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent. In 1976, Bath also co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, which established that “eyesight is a basic human right.”
The first African-American Supreme Court Justice was Thurgood Marshall, an advocate for the people who worked arduously to make sure all were treated fairly under the law, especially in the important case Brown v. Board of Education.
The film “Hidden Figures” highlighted the important plight of three black women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who were known as “human computers” that stood against racial discrimination in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, faced a plight as women in the workplace and ultimately helped make the space race a reality in the U.S.
The first African-American congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, was also the first major party black candidate to run for U.S. presidency. She fought consistently for education opportunities as an educator herself, and she fought for social justice.
In only a short, amount of time, many of these individuals took the adversity in the face of racism, and despite the odds, have continued to make a lasting effect on our country's society. There are many others I have not named, but know that this month is a celebration of all contributions that black people bring to the United States. The truth is, they, too, are America