Apollo High School

February, the shortest month of the year, is over already and along with it an underappreciated black history month.There shouldn't be a black history month at all,there should be an entire YEAR dedicated to the African American people simply because society yet again, has short changed the black man.There is no possible way to compensate for the opression and inequality experienced by black people except through the glorification and exaltation of the black mind.

As students our main goal is to aquire knowledge of our world both past and present in order to maintain the status of an educated individual. What we are taught in school is considered basic fundamental information but is undoubtedly centered around certain elite individuals. The accomplishments of African Americans in history seem to be and will probably remain over shadowed by other events and peoples.

For anyone to insist that Africans were not killed in mass numbers during the days of slavery is an unjustifiable attempt to poison the truths behind the inhumanity and cruelty of the institution of slavery. It is also mind boggling to think that people can't name one influential African American that is not directly tied to slavery,civil rights,or the world of entertainment. Here is a list of African Americans that have had a major influence in the world but failed to make a big enough impact to be mentioned in the history books: Garret A. Morgan, invented the first traffic signal; Maggie Walker, the first woman banker in the U.S.; Otis BoyKin, invented control unit for artificial heartstimulator;AnnieEasley, mathemetician; Mary Styles Harris, geneticist; St. Elmo Brady, chemist; Alfred O. Coffin, biologist; Herman Branson, biochemist; Vivian Murray, entomoligist; Lewis Howard, engineer.These are only a few of many people that we will never learn about in high school. We will never know the extent of the vast contributions they made and with all things taken into consideration it isn't hard to see the beauty of a black mind.