Letter to the editor: Black history coverage impressive; women’s history time now
Published 8:00 am Sunday, February 28, 2021
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To the editor:
Founder Carter G. Woodson, if he were alive, might well be surprised and pleased. Nationwide media coverage of Black history, during February this year, was very extensive and most impressive. Locally, following in the footsteps of Alice Gaither and Magalene Gaither, Sharon Anderson wrote some outstanding articles filled with information.
Saying she wanted more young people to know about the history, Cynthia Robinson wrote Freedom Summer. The NC Black Repertory Co. premiered her play about the 1964 Mississippi Voting Rights Project; it was streamed during February on Artarie: a media platform based in Winston-Salem.
Maureen Stover, a NC Teacher of the Year, was on a team of educators who advocated for new NC Social Studies Standards. One sentence in their open letter reads, “A great history education empowers scholars to think critically about how the past informs the present.” One of their proposed goals is to bring “clarity about the past and empower our next generation of citizens to understand the inherent strength in a diverse society.”
Anderson, Robinson and Stover took different paths to accomplish their missions: to highlight ways in which the past has shaped our nation. Now that we’re into March and Women’s History Month, we have a chance shine a light on another population’s struggles, successes and contributions.
Alice G. Brown
Mocksville