Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Why No White History Month? It is the month of February again, and I am very excited about the Black History month. As a young African American elementary school teacher, I make sure that I fully take advantage of the Black History month in my lessons with my 5th graders. Yesterday, we were talking about important African American political figures, who made life better for all Americans. During this lesson, one of my students raised her hand and asked why there was no "White History month?" "Were White Americans not as important?" I did not have a good answer to her question. I must be doing something wrong to have a student feel this way. How would you answer this question? Do you think it is problematic to integrate African Americans to all my lessons during February? How can I fix this? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) Answering any question about race, race relations, or race issues can be daunting on a teacher. Celebrating months where contributions by African Americans or Hispanic Americans or LGBT communities should be implemented, in my opinion. But, as the above scenario presents itself, what can I do about addressing the issue about a lack of White History month? How do I explain this to the students? Well, I would start by presenting them with factual information regarding implementation of various awareness months. Following this, I would present factual information by referencing to standards that we're learning about how many of the standards are referencing to white Americans. Is this White history? Or is it American History? Then, I would ask my students to discuss this. I guess, to me, this is one of those teachable moments where you "feel" your way through the atmosphere of it. You listen to what the students are asking and what they think about it. Two years ago I was teaching U.S. History to a class that consisted only of African American students. I was very intimidated by this situation I was facing. I asked myself many questions. How do they feel about a white person (a European, nonetheless) teaching them their history? How will they perceive it? Will they feel that I am adequate in addressing their curiosities and questions about race relations? I had a lot of questions of myself and of my students. I took the time to ask them at the start of the school year. I sent a president where they understood that there was an open forum for any questions. I had to feel my way through the situation. Being honest with the students goes a long way. Let them know that you don't always have all the answers to such controversial topics. Race relations are a sensitive issue. That's how I would approach this type of scenario. I would integrate African American history (and all other histories) from the onset of the school year. This way, students are exposed and conditioned to understand that the histories of the various races in America are intertwined from earliest of its times.