Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart, live from the WNYC Studios in Soho. Thank you for spending a part of your day with us. I'm grateful that you're here. On today's show, we'll talk about the past and future of the Sundance Film Festival with two writers from The Hollywood Reporter and the co-directors of the new series Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History. Join us for a preview before it airs tonight on PBS. That's the plan. Let's get this started with an important anniversary.

[MUSIC - Luscious Jackson: You and Me]

Alison Stewart: It's Black History Month, marking 100 years since Carter G. Woodson first launched Negro History Week. This year's theme is A Century of Black History Commemorations. There's a host of events to honor the contributions and legacy of Black Americans. Get out your calendars, everybody. Tonight, the Schomburg Center in Harlem is hosting a conversation with vintage collectors about preserving history through heirlooms and objects. On Wednesday, February 4th, the Allerton Library in the Bronx will host a Black History Month storytime for families.

On Saturday, February 14th, New York City Parks is leading a guided tour of Central Park, exploring the lives of African American residents of Seneca Village from the 1800s. On Saturday, February 21st, New York Road Runners will observe the month with a community-led 5K open run for runners and walkers of all abilities. Joining me to talk about the history, the legacy, and how we celebrate Black History Month is Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead. Can I call you Dr. Kaye?

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: You sure can. Thank you.

Alison Stewart: I love that. She's a professor of communication and African American Studies at Loyola University and national president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which is the organization founded Black History Month. Dr. Kaye Welcome to All Of It.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Thank you so much. I am absolutely delighted to be here with you on day three of Black History Month.

Alison Stewart: Day three. Listeners, we want to hear from you. What does Black History Month mean for you? What does this month mean for everybody? Tell us how you plan to celebrate this centennial year. How has your community observed the month over the years? Who is someone in history that you'd love to give your flowers to that maybe people haven't heard of? Call or text us now at 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC.

Let's go back. 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson. He's a historian, an author, a journalist, and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which launched Negro History Week. Tell us a little bit about his background, and first of all, why he chose February.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Thank you so much. It is such a pleasure to be here at A Century of Black History Commemorations. In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, for people that don't know, he was born in Virginia. His parents were enslaved. He worked as a sharecropper. He worked in the mines and went to school later in his life, and end up, of course, being the second African American to get a PhD from Harvard University, with the first being W.E.B. Du Bois. He worked as a public school teacher, so he was uniquely concerned about the ways in which young Black children were being educated within the school system. Hence, the title of his book: The Mis-Education of the Negro.

When he launched Negro History Week, he intentionally chose February because Black families were already celebrating two big days in February: the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, which is February 12, because of his work with the Emancipation Proclamation. Now that we have the long eye of history, we can look at the EP as an executive order and kind of talk about how it settled things. The birthday of Frederick Douglass, his chosen birthday of February 14.

Dr. Carter G. Woodson didn't start the celebration of Black History; he just put some structure around it, saying we should intentionally use this week to make sure that we're teaching our children, teaching our community members about our history, and about the contributions that Black people have made to America. Since 1926, every single February, the celebration has gone forth through ASALH, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Carter G. Woodson's organization that he founded in 1915. We have been holding up what he has put forward since 1926. We set the theme every month.

Over time, Negro History Week spread across the country, of course, moved from Negro History Week to Black History Week into Black History Month. It was in 1976, after pressure from the Black community on the Ford administration during the bicentennial year, that the White House issued the first official proclamation. We have been celebrating long before that, and we're here today in a century.

Alison Stewart: Why were themes so important to Dr. Woodson?

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Dr. Woodson said we needed to set a theme so that people would know what to focus on. He said, "If you look at the entire history of Black people, it didn't just start and end with American slavery." It's not just about what we've done in the schools. It's not just about what we're doing in the churches. It's about the entire story. He said, "We'll set a theme, and everyone will be focused on teaching that aspect of our story."

He actually wanted Negro History Week to be Negro History Year. He said we should be teaching it, of course, 365 and 366. Not just during the month of February, but during that time, he said, if we just focus on one aspect, Black folks' contributions to the arts, our contributions to education, what Black women have done, if we focus on one thing, then everybody, every place, is teaching about the same area in our history.

Alison Stewart: Be real, though. What were the challenges that Black historians faced in the early '20s?

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: This is a very good question, because during the 1920s, of course, that was the nadir of African American history. You think we had come out of American slavery, which ended in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment on December 6. We had had a fight for our civil rights and civil liberties, which were cemented with the 14th Amendment in 1868. We were fighting so that Black men could get to the polls, which was cemented with the 15th Amendment for the protection of our voting rights, but then ran up against Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 for legalized segregation.

From slavery to sharecropping to legalized segregation. We saw our rights that we had gained after the Civil War, after the 14th Amendment, begin to be slowly and violently stripped away. We call that the nadir of Black history, a very dark time in our history, as we were losing all of the gains that we had made coming through the Reconstruction period. There was a problem with trying to hold on to our history, a problem with those who were doing the studying to make sure the information was transferred from the academy, which is universities, down to the community.

ASALH is the bridge between both of those things, and Negro History Week is that intentional time set forward so that folks can come out of the academy, come out of the universities, come out of the schools, go into the community, making sure the history is getting into the hands of everyone. It's not just for Black people; it is for everyone to understand the true story of the American historical narrative.

Alison Stewart: I want to ask you about that, about why everyone should celebrate Black History Month. Why should everyone celebrate?

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Thank you for that question. Black history is American history. You can't understand the significance of the American historical narrative without understanding the contributions that Black people have made to America. It's hard to talk about the founding of this country if you don't start with Ivan Van Sertima and the book We Came Before Columbus, which is about ancestors coming over from the west coast of Africa into the Americas doing trade.

You have to talk about the work of indentured servants in building the free Black community. Talk about the work that Black folks were doing to help build this nation. Talk about the extraction of our unpaid labor brick by brick, and building up what this nation is founded on. The fact that slavery was used to build capitalism, and the fact that Black folks have fought in every single war since the Revolutionary War. You can't discount all of the ways that we have contributed to American society.

It's not just about people who are Black learning our history, because we don't just teach what people call American history, which is really white history, only to the white community. We're saying, no, everybody needs to learn about American history. We're arguing Black history is American history, which means it's part of the larger story that everybody should be studying.

Alison Stewart: Listeners, this callout is for you. What does Black History Month mean to you? Tell us how you plan on celebrating Black History Month this year. Our number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. I'm speaking with scholar Dr. Kaye Wise Whitehead, the national president of the organization which founded this Black History Month. How have you seen schools and universities incorporate Black History Month into the curricula over the years?

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Thank you for that, because that makes me very excited with the ways in which Black history gets intentionally written into the curriculum. We have to be honest that we are up against the wall of white supremacy, the wall that has intentionally tried to erase the history of Black people, that our history is taught kind of in the sidelines.

It used to be you would get the textbook and then the boxes along the side, they would talk about Black people as if it wasn't part of the American history story, or they would teach what they call "American history" up until January 31st and stop and teach Black history until the end of February and then go back to American history as if it was something separate from the whole story.

We've had historians and educators of all different races and ethnicities doing the work to make sure that the history curricula include all stories. The work that's been done to include women, the work has been done to include people of color, and then this work that was done to make sure that folks from our community were then lifted up and their contributions were noted alongside. That's where the battleground is. I mean, we talk a lot about how the voting booth is a battleground, and I don't discount that.

I think another battleground is the classroom. The narrative that young people are taught helps them to figure out how they see themselves and help them to figure out how they see themselves in the longer continuum of American history and the narrative going forward. If they're not learning it young, then they don't get to understand how it's all connected. It is in the schools as early as first grade. That is where the history should be taught, and in many systems is where it is being taught.

Alison Stewart: So interesting. I'm of the age where you learned about, they call it slavery. Now they call it enslavement and the civil rights movement. That was it. That was all you were taught in the '70s, right?

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Right.

Alison Stewart: You learned about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, and that was it. I want you to tell people about a piece of Black history that you feel should be emphasized this year. Something that they might not know about. One piece.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: I love that question. Thank you so much. I often laugh, similar to what you said, that when you teach Black history, within one month, you start with slavery, you start with Harriet Tubman. By week two, Harriet Tubman is marching with MLK. By week three, they're getting married. They're getting on the front of the bus. They have a son. His name is Barack Obama. He's in the White House. Like, you collapse all the history because you're rushing to try to get everything in one month, in 28 days or 29 days. That is truly a problem. We laugh about it, but we also know, as children of the '70s, the truth that's inherent in that, how it was kind of a collapsing and a dumping of all this information.

One of the things I'm calling on people to do as the president of ASALH, I'm laying out for people what I call exercises of daily resistance that you actually have to build up the muscle of resistance and knowledge is a form of resistance, telling people that every day they should learn one new fact about Black history and they should share, like get more people as allies than as enemies, helping them to understand the importance of our history.

In a 1925 essay that Arthur Schomburg wrote, he said that the American Negro must remake his past in order to make his future. Like, we actually have to go back and understand history so we can really take back what the incorrect histories have stolen from us. One of the names that I've been lifting up is William Wells Brown. Now, William Wells Brown was an anti-slavery lecturer. He was a novelist. He was a playwright, a historian. He was born in 1814, and he is widely considered to have been the first Black person to publish works in several major literary genres. The first Black person to get published.

William Wells Brown, his writing was acclaimed for being very effective. He was actually born to a white father and an enslaved mother on a plantation outside of Lexington, Kentucky. When you go back and you take a look at his work, everyone knows the work of Frederick Douglass and that narrative biography, but by 1845, Williams Wells Brown had also done a narrative called The Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave, written by himself. He traveled not just throughout America, but he traveled across Europe.

Between 1849 and 1854, they said he delivered more than a thousand speeches talking about American slavery and talking about what we should be doing to challenge it, to end it, and to find a way to truly give rights to enslaved people. I looked up the name of William Wells Brown today as someone that people should go and study.

Alison Stewart: I'll go for Elizabeth Jennings in New York. She was one of the first women to decide that she needed to ride on a streetcar, which was segregated, and her case was decided in her favor. Elizabeth Jennings, you should read about her. Let's take a call. Lori is calling from Manhattan. Hey, Lori. Happy Black History Month.

Lori: Yes, hello. Thank you. I wanted to recognize some contributions by somebody who was very, very empathetic, and I think that's very important. His name is Julius Rosenwald, and he built over 5,000 schools for African Americans, first in partnership with Booker T. Washington. Why did he do this? Because he had the empathy, because he was Jewish. This is a quote. "The horrors that are due to race prejudice come home to the Jew more forcefully than to others of the white race, on account of the centuries of persecution which they have suffered and still suffer."

It was interesting to me that he didn't say, "Let's give everything to the Jews." He was looking outwards at other people that were suffering more in America and did something about it. I think that our current administration has no empathy and has much to learn from a person like that.

Alison Stewart: Thanks so much for the call. We'll be talking about the Rosenwald schools later on in the show with the interesting histories of Black and Jewish Americans. This text says, "Let's not forget the honorable Marcus Garvey. My father worked with him in the Universal Negro Improvement Association during the 1920s."

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Wow. I just want to go back, if I can, just to what the caller lifted up with Julius Rosenwald. As people are studying his work, of course, you got to think about Sears, Roebuck. He found that that was very important. I think that when you study Rosenwald, please study the influence that Booker T. Washington had on Rosenwald, because that was what encouraged Rosenwald to really address what was happening with Black education in the United States in terms of looking at the inadequate buildings, the inadequate books, but that was through the pressure of Booker T. Washington.

Then it was overseen. The Rosenwald schools in rural Alabama were overseen by Tuskegee. Make sure that you're both studying the history and looking at Rosenwald, but you're also looking at the impact that Booker T. Washington have on making sure this comes forward.

Alison Stewart: This text says, "It's 1969 when Alice de Rivera sued to allow girls to be admitted to Stuyvesant High School. Her lawyer cited the writing research of Pauli Murray, who coined the term Jane Crow. I attended in 1974, so I am grateful to this brilliant woman who has been unsung. I even exchanged messages with her niece to let her know the part that her aunt played in my life." That's with the history.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Oh, I love that. Listening to Pauli Murray, I want to add to that. She's born in Baltimore, Maryland, which is where I'm located. Pauli Murray and the work that she did to make sure that as they were shaping the pushback to legalize segregation, she is someone that was doing the work on the ground, making sure this was happening.

She got her master's degree from UC Berkeley. She was the first Black person and first Black woman to receive a doctorate of judicial science degree from Yale Law School. She was a lawyer who worked with the NAACP, and she was working alongside Thurgood Marshall, and her book, the 1950 book, States' Laws on Race and Color, which became the bible of the civil rights movement.

Alison Stewart: Since last year, Dr. Kaye, government websites have deleted content related to Black history. Then last week, the National Park Service removed content from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia that referenced enslavement and the challenges faced by enslaved people. First of all, I think we know what the danger is, but I want to hear from your perspective: what is the danger of removing this kind of information?

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Thank you. I tell people that we have to make sure that as they are taking down our history, they are removing our history, they're seeking to erase our history, that we're working just as hard, we're working just as quickly to make sure there's a permanent print of our history. We're taking pictures of these sites. We're recording what is happening. We're using our phones to document. We're putting these down into our post because it's not the danger of the history being misunderstood by those that are currently in school. I'm thinking about generations to come, the Generation Beta babies that were born as of January 1st, 2026, and going beyond them.

If the history is distorted, they will be the generation that will then not understand the true contributions that Black people and people of all different races and ethnicities have made to America. They're trying to take us back to what existed before, that we fought so hard against. We fought to integrate the schools. We fought to make sure the curriculum was all-inclusive. We fought to make sure that all peoples were included in the conversations. I think it's more difficult to take us in the opposite direction.

I'm watching the work that's done. I also know that this is a horse that can't return to the barn. America is a place that is becoming browner. It is a place that is becoming more equal. It is a place that's becoming more based in equity. What we're fighting against is the last gasp to try to stop that, but I don't think you can stop the progress that's been done.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Kevin, who's calling from Newark, New Jersey. Hey, Kevin, thanks for making the time to call All Of It.

Kevin: Good afternoon.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Good afternoon.

Alison Stewart: Kevin, you want to give somebody a shout-out?

Kevin: Julia Baxter.

Alison Stewart: Julia Baxter?

Kevin: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Tell us more.

Kevin: Julia Baxter, 1935, finished Bernardsville High School in Bernardsville, New Jersey, cum laude in her high school class. It was accepted to Douglass College based on her appearance and her academic acumen. Upon seeing her in person, they denied her access to the school. They asked her to leave campus with her father, who was my grandfather, and allowed her to be a day student only and commute from the family homestead in Newark. Her grandfather, my great-grandfather, James M. Baxter, was one of America's first educators of color. 100 years later, the Brown v. Board of Education was prepared at my great-grandfather's home in Newark, New Jersey.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Wow.

Kevin: The actual legal brief, Brown v. Board, is in my possession.

Alison Stewart: Wow.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Wow.

Kevin: She was head of the Legal Defense Fund from 1940 to 1965 and never lost a case.

Alison Stewart: Thank you so much for calling in. Let's talk to Jeannie, who's calling from Corona. Hey, Jeannie, thanks for calling All Of It.

Jeannie: Hey, you guys. I'm between two classes at Long Island University. I wanted to shout out Constance Baker Motley. Am I saying this right? If they can-

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Yes.

Jeannie: -let me know. She's amazing legal lawyer who went on her own dime down to the south and literally did trial cases to get people who were just rotting in these jails down south. I think, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, she was a law clerk or an assistant to Thurgood Marshall. She had some serious, serious law cred and just was amazing. Thanks for shouting out Pauli Murray, and thanks for shouting out all these wonderful people who so contributed, and their names need to be shouted from the rooftops.

Alison Stewart: Thanks so much. This says, "For Black History Month, I want to shout out Hubert Harrison. Last night, I saw a talk by Dr. Brian Kwoba discussing his book on Harrison at Columbia. Harrison was largely buried name when discussions occur this month. He had a very kaleidoscopic progressive views." Let's get one more call in. Pat in Montclair. Hi, Pat, thanks for calling All Of It.

Pat: Hi, how are you? Shout out about Bessie Coleman, an African American who was a pilot and wound up living in Paris, and Carole Hopson, who is a captain for United Airlines, 737 captain. She's a Black woman and two very amazing women.

Alison Stewart: Pat, thanks for calling to shout out. Dr. Kaye, this year's theme is A Century of Black History Commemorations. What's going to go on with that?

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Thank you for that. I want to note just very quickly, as we wrap up here, that Constance Baker Motley was co-counsel with Thurgood Marshall, and she was the first Black woman to argue before the Supreme Court. She won 9 out of 10 cases. I definitely want to--

Alison Stewart: We did a full bio, like a five week long on this-

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: I love that. Thank you so much.

Alison Stewart: -so people should dive back into that for sure.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Thank you so much. I appreciate that. What we're asking people to do at this century moment is to make sure that they're both uplifting any activities that are happening in their area. If they're not happening in your area, then you can connect with us at asalh.org, and we can help you to put one on in your area.

Alison Stewart: That's great.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: We're asking you to really find the organizations that are doing the work that you agree with and to defend them. We know we're under threat right now when it comes to black organizations, black press, black radio. We want you to turn your attention and dive deep into getting those memberships. Join ASALH into trying to figure out how you can purchase books that have been banned. They may have been banned from the curricula, but they're not banned from being ordered in and given to a young person. Get involved. There is no sideline work this month. We need everyone to be a gardener. Help us to plant these seeds so we can go forward from here.

Alison Stewart: I do love that idea about learning about someone new every day. That is such a good idea.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Thank you.

Alison Stewart: It's such a great idea because people have lives. They got to get their kids to school. They got to do this. They may not have a chance to go out and do something, but they can do that one thing. It's really, really important, I think.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: I love it. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. We are excited about Black History Month, and thank you for allowing me to come on to uplift the work that ASALH is doing this month and that we continue to do every single day of the year, as Black history is American history.

Alison Stewart: I've been speaking with Dr. Kaye Wise Whitehead. Nice to meet you.

Dr. Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead: Thank you. You as well.