February challenge

February 9, 2023

I grew up two miles from Eatonville, the first Black-owned city in Florida, founded by formerly enslaved people in 1887. Zora Neale Hurston's father served as its mayor, and her writing featured the town.

In elementary school, I learned about Ponce de León and the European conquistadores. Once we even traveled hours by yellow bus to the Spanish fort at St. Augustine, a National Monument.

But we never took a field trip to Eatonville, and no English teacher ever assigned us Their Eyes Were Watching God.

I suspect that many of you can identify similar gaps in your own educations.

So this February — Black History Month — I offer you this challenge: learn something new about Black History, something your own teachers never taught you.

Start local. Look into the artists who made Evanston's King Records. Drive out to the John P. Parker House in Ripley, on its way to becoming part of the National Park Service. Learn about Xavier's own Antonio Johnson by buying a ticket to our Black Student Association's annual gala.

Or head down to the Esquire Theatre at 10 am on February 18 to see the documentary about Chicago Footwork by our RIGS colleague ShaDawn Battle, then head back to Gallagher at 6pm to join in the dance.

Me? I'll start by finally reading that Cincinnati-inspired classic by Toni Morrison. Somehow it wasn't part of the Florida public school canon.

David Mengel