COLUMN: February, a month of learning
Each February I am reminded of why I chose to become a teacher of American history. President’s day, a celebration of Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays, has much to do with my affinity toward the shortest month. As a young student, these two great Presidents were always honored. February is also Black History Month. Any teacher has a great opportunity to explore and explain why history is about the heart and soul of a nation – of all the people.
When the authors of the Constitution wrote the preamble to that hallowed document, they wrote, in a very presumptuous manner, “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.” Only 39 white, male, property owners signed the constitution, but they historically did speak for “the people.” February reminds citizens we have spent 222 years defining the “We” in the preamble.
George Washington is revered because, as the original president, he established a stable new government against overwhelming odds. Abraham Lincoln is remembered as the President, born in poverty, who presided over one of the most devastating civil wars in history, preserved the union and sealed it with his blood. As a consequence of their actions, the United States of American emerged “a more perfect union.”
Washington’s personal slaves were freed at his wife’s passing, and four million African Americans were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War. However, the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments were necessary to constitutionally document the results of the war. Civil rights acts were passed in the aftermath of the war to guarantee protection of all citizens by the federal government.
Americans celebrate and honor those who have continued to expand the “We” in the preamble. Nevertheless, citizenship has never been easy and for many immigrants, native Americans, and African Americans the last twenty years of the 19th century witnessed an erosion of the rights and opportunities that most Americans enjoyed.
The Supreme Court did not uphold the civil rights acts, the government passed laws excluding Asian immigrants, and the proposal to create restrictive reservations for Native Americans became a reality. By 1900, the nation had moved away from expanding the definition of the people.
Teaching in February is an opportunity to tell the stories of those who battled against discrimination, exclusion, segregation, and poverty. It reminds us of how public education is a great creator of opportunities for all citizens and how the land grant college concept expanded opportunity for higher education. The classrooms of America are the laboratory for questions, ideas, answers, and a determination to seek tolerance and understanding.
The civil rights revolution is an absolutely fascinating period of American history to teach. Idealistical leaders emerged and catapulted the concepts of equality and fairness into the national conscience. Whether it was Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall or Rosa Parks, they all battled segregation in a variety of ways. Robinson on baseball diamonds, Marshall in court rooms, Parks on buses – the nation cried for action and people acted. The dramatic decade of the 1960s is punctuated by the triumphs and the tragedies associated with the quest for equal rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.
In a very short time, the Civil Rights Acts were passed, a Voting Rights Act, Pell grants, Head Start, the Job Corps, and other programs designed to increase opportunity and expand the “We” in the preamble. The battle has always been difficult, but the results are worth the struggle.
John Lewis, currently a Congressman from Georgia, wrote an autobiography, “Walking in the Wind,” in which he chronicles his young life during this period. Lewis is very close to my age, and his story is a compilation of the period. As an 18-year-old freshman in Nashville, he got involved in sit-ins. A year later, he elected to participate in the Freedom Rides. As President of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, he spoke at the 1963 March on Washington and heard Martin Luther King, Jr’s immortal “I have a Dream Speech.” This was followed by non-violent marches throughout the South.
By 1968, he had been jailed over 40 times. The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and then Senator Robert F. Kennedy forced Lewis to step back, finish school, and ultimately become a community organizer. He has spent half of a century in service to others.
When teaching these topics. I am reminded of the challenge facing Americans historically. The drive to create equal opportunity and fulfill the ideals of the Constitution is eternal. As citizens we have an obligation to move forward individually and collectively. This is a nation of inclusiveness, and as Martin Luther King Jr wrote in his letter from Birmingham Jail, “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly … anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider.”
Presidents and citizens do indeed define the “We the people,” and February is a great time to be reminded of their efforts.
Ross Peterson is currently vice president of university advancement and will assume the position of special assistant to the president on April 1.