Black History at 100: Resilience, Resistance, and Responsibility in an Age of Backlash

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In this special episode of The Teacher’s Forum, David shares the keynote address he delivered at Providence Day School’s Black History Month celebration, marking one hundred years since Carter G. Woodson founded Negro History Week, the foundation of what would become Black History Month.

Drawing on Toni Morrison’s assertion that “definitions belong to the definers,” David reflects on Woodson’s determination to build an institution that would allow Black people to research, write, and teach their own history. He situates Woodson’s work within the violent and contested landscape of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and considers what it means to define ourselves when Black history is under fierce attack.

At the heart of the address is a central question: What does Black history teach us in this challenging moment? David offers three enduring lessons, resilience, resistance, and responsibility, and invites listeners to consider how those lessons shape both our understanding of the past and our obligations in the present.

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