Celebrating Black History Month 2022
What have you learned this year?
Black history isn’t just a month. But, I still love using this month to learn even more about the history of black people and our contributions to this country.
Last year, I took over the @Crayligraphy account and shared the work of various black lettering artists and illustrators, as well as some not-so-well known black history factoids, all while building a much larger picture of black history in America.
This year I took a deep dive into HBCUs with my students. Here’s an update on that project…
It’s a bittersweet because I learned the same lesson that I always do with black history…That is, the more things change, the more things stay the same.
HBCUs are yet another area that is tainted by the stains of racial discrimination. This country just can’t escape that..
However, what I valued most in researching the history of black colleges was the dual part of that recurring lesson…The lesson that always comes after the racism part…And, that is that the perseverance of HBCUs (or black people) still drives them to produce stellar graduates despite the setbacks of discriminatory underfunding. While no one group of people are perfect, it’s an enduring characteristic of my people to always take the lemons they’re given and somehow make the whole lemonade stand.
“The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of them all.” - The Emperor, Mulan
The Procreate app symmetry tool with a setting of quadrant is pretty nifty. Take a look at how I put these two pieces together in the images and video below.
This time last year, I shared a list of black lettering artists and I wrote about supporting black businesses after the woke renaissance. That list is still fire…
…And that directive is still good this year too.
Today, even though there are yet gains to be made, justice still to be served, allies still to step up, and many micro-wrongs still to be made right…black people are making history every day-graduating notable scholars, owning and operating businesses, and doing the things that weren’t even thought of by their ancestors.
You know, today, I heard a well-known minister say something to the effect of, “We think black history started on slave ships…as if we just popped into existence on those ships. We come from somewhere…and we are on our way to somewhere.” To me, that says that, I can expand my thinking about black history-my history.
Like any other people on the face of this earth, we have a past-some of it great and some of it really bad…But, the future is what we make it.
That’s reason enough to celebrate all year long. 🖤
