One of the funniest news clip that you’ll ever see is Morgan Freeman talking to Mike Wallace about Black History Month. Wallace arrogantly assumes that Freeman is for it, and is shocked when he says he isn’t. Freeman then asks Wallace if he wants a White History Month for his people and Wallace sputters that he is Jewish (as if that isn’t white). Then Freeman asks if he wants a Jewish History Month and Wallace says “no” in horror at the thought. Comedy gold.
Morgan Freeman is correct, of course, that black history (and black Americans) are woven through the history of our country, often in ways that are poorly recognized. Black History Month gives prominence to black Americans of historical significance, but it also tends to extract them and their accomplishments from their proper context, making for an unintended form of segregation.