Bibliographic Essay

Tatum

LaMoine Tatum
Leslie Drake
Research Techniques and Technologies
Bibliography
Yellow: Grammatical or spelling mistakes (if it is in parenthesis, I added that).
Blue: Confusing statements.
Red: Advice
Pink: General comments (at the end of the paper)
Abstract
This paper will be addressing the controversy of why Black History Month should
be eradicated, period. Ever since 1926, when Black History Month was established, and
even before that, the history of African Americans was never told comprehensively and
chronologically in the order of which the events took place. Race is one of the most
important topics in the United States that is hardly addressed until a tragedy occurs such
as Trayvon Martin in Florida or Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Using a multitude
of sources, they will show different aspects on the topic of black history. It is important to
discuss this topic simply because the point of Black History Month was to acknowledge
the accomplishments that African Americans had done, but instead of expressing the
importance of the topic, it has always been and continues to be an issue that is not fully
respected. These sources will express the need to eradicate Black History Month in order
to move forward. Black history is American history and has to be taught comprehensively

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and chronologically in the order of which they happened. If this continues, it will prove
to be more racism because the history is segregated and taught incorrectly.

Introduction
History is one of the most important subjects that citizens have to learn. At some
point in life, it is taught that if one does not know their history, then they are doomed to
repeat it. It is evident that Americans do not know their history as well as some think. The
question then becomes, do people not know or is the history just being covered up and
potentially destroyed. The conversation of whether or not Black History Month is
becoming more prevalent, specifically, whether or not it should be eradicated altogether.
History of Black History
In order to even approach the question of whether or not Black History Month
should be eradicated, the history of how it started has to be evaluated first. Black History
Month was established in order to recognize the contributions of Americas black
counterparts. Stacy Swamp is a member of the National Advisory Council of Project 21
Black Leadership Network. He wrote an article called The Origin and Purpose of Black
History Month discussing how Black History Month started. It started in 1926 by Carter
G. Woodson. Swamp made (wrote) this article because it is prevalent that black history
cannot be smashed into the shortest month of the entire year. (In here, I believe syou

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should specify more what the article is about and then tie it to why it relates to your
topic).
Kevin Myles is a part of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP).
Kevin has served as a Branch Youth Advisor, Parliamentarian, Legal Redress Chairman,
Branch AND State Political Action Chairman, Branch President (where he received 8
National Thalheimer Awards for programs and publications), and the Kansas State
Conference President. He also served and continues to serve as a member of the
NAACPs National Leadership 500 Planning Committee, and the NAACPs National
Political and Legislative Action Committees (NAACP, 2011). He was the President of
the NAACP Branch in Wichita, Kansas. He taught a group of young people (including
myself) many history lessons on black history and Black History Month. (Why is he
important to your project?)
Each source in this particular section is unique. For history sake, using the quote
from the man who established Black History Month in the first place shows how he did
not intend for this month to go on as long as it has. Here are two different people who are
a part of two highly respected organizations that have been around for a long time. The
people in these organizations are highly educated in the fields of African American
studies and social justice.
Benevolent Racism
Throughout American history (,) racism has always played a huge part in the
development of this country. Caucasian Americans and African Americans have always

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had opposition with one another. Benevolent racism is still racism and is a part of this
culture. Benevolent racism is defined as the tendency to find members of other races
sympathetic, but incompetent according to goodtherapy.org. The article Benevolent
Racism: Upholding Racial Inequality in the Name of Black Empowerment (Esposito
and Romano, 2014) explains the role of benevolent racism and its impact in society. (Tie
this article back to your project. Great job explaining it, but tell me how it goes with your
project)
Eric Dyson, a professor of Sociology at Georgetown University, says that, by
definition, blacks cannot be racist. Racism exists when prejudice and power combine to
form social constructs, legislation, and widespread media bias that contribute to the
oppression of the rights and liberties of a group of people. By definition, blacks are not in
a position of power (due to white privilege) to be racist. However, it is possible for blacks
to be prejudiced. Dyson is also an American academic, radio host, and author. The
sociology professor has dealt with all kinds of discrimination cases anywhere from before
Tupac Shakur to Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and pretty soon Walter Scott. (I know I
am repeating myself, but you do a great job explaining the background of the author or
the article, yet there is the need to tie it back to your specific project topic)
TIME Magazine by James Poniewozik covered a story December 12, 2013. The
Fox News channel had a report on December 11, 2013, discussing how two highly
inspirational figures were white because they just are. Megyn Kelly featured in Fox
News, stated that Santa Clause and Jesus Christ were both white men. The reason why
TIME magazine is reliable is because it has been around for a while (how old is a while?
This will add more credibility to your statement). If it provided the reader with false

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information then the company would have been dismissed a long time ago. However,
another reason why the magazine is very credible is because it cites all of its sources.
That means that they supply the sources so the reader can see for themselves what really
happened or what was going on. (Same. Tie it back)
Segregation of History
Black history is in fact American history, period. To separate black history is the
same as segregation of the races. How is equality going to be respected if the even the
history is scattered? To help answer the original question, one must realize that the
answer depends on when or where it was asked (Nice transition!!). In 2005, Morgan
Freeman participated in an interview with the television segment of 60 Minutes. In this
segment, Freeman expressed his views on Black History Month. Freeman was asked by
Mike Wallace of (about) how to get rid of racism. Freeman stated, Stop talking about it.
Im going to stop calling you a white man. And Im going to ask you to stop calling me a
black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. You`re not
going to say, "I know this white guy named Mike Wallace." Hear what I`m saying?
We should emphasize not Negro history, but the Negro in history.
What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history
of the world void of national bias, race hate and religious prejudice.
(when the quotation is longer than two lines, it must be indented in a
separated in a different paragraph. See Purdue owl to understand what I
mean) This was stated by the founder of Black History Month, Carter G.
Woodson himself. He did not intend for this month to continue so long.

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Simply because it is also creates more segregation. Limiting black history

to one month is, in all actuality, racist.
End of Racism?
What is the point of celebrating black history month when, for the
most part, America has not let go of her racial past? There are a multitude
of instances that prove that the citizens of America have to truly
comprehend the importance of this month. Black history is not just a
month, but is a lifestyle.
According to the Washington Post of December 24, 2014 (by
Michelle Ye Hee Lee, without parenthesis) (written by Michelle Ye Hee
Lee), in April of 2013, there was a report titled Operation Ghetto Storm
by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. Yes, the Washington Post is a major

daily newspaper. It practices journalistic ethics, makes an effort to fact-check what it

reports, and has won a multitude of Pulitzer Prizes for excellence in journalism. This
particular report analyzed officer-involved killings of African American victims in 2012.
There were 313 black men, women, and children in 2012 that were killed by police
officers, security guards, or vigilantes. Divide the number of hours in a year (8,760
hours) by 313 deaths and that comes out to one death per 28 hours (Lee, 2014). (Why
does your reader need to know this? Explain the relationship to your topic)
According to phsy.org, an article that published an article on Mar 07, 2013 titled
First Early Human Fossil Found in Africa makes Dbut. The EDU means that is the top
level domain of education. This article discussed how the first person on this Earth was
found in Africa and was a black man. Charles Darwin had predicted in the 1870s that

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humans evolved in Africa because that was where our closest living relatives were. In the
1980s, Chris Stringer, who is a human origins expert, was one of the researchers who
proposed the Out of Africa model that says all humans living today share a recent African
ancestor at The Natural History Museum.
Although Africa is the birth place of mankind, many people chose to ignore their
African heritage. According to an excerpt from this book, Black in Latin America, by
The Roots editor-in-chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. he eventually came across a statue
honoring Lemba, a great leader of the Maroon slaves in the 16th century. Many Latinos
know that they have African ancestors, but after growing up in countries that typically
make little mention of such African roots, some Afro-Latinos simply follow suit and
dont (do not) acknowledge that part of their rich cultural history (Gates, 2014). This
article shows that many cultures (not just the Hispanic culture) have little to no interest in
African heritage and that is because of institutionalized racism (this is what I am talking
about!! Here you tied it back in the last sentence)
Criticism
Now that we have covered (the) racism aspect, lets examine the criticisms. The
criticisms are as follows: it is (They are? I dont know what you are trying to say here) an
avenue for big businesses and it can be improved.
(nice road map) First, we will examine the business side. A multitude of big business
corporations use Black History Month to target the African American community.
According to the article The Brigade against Black History Month by Leslie Goff in
2013, Nike released shoes with the theme towards Black History Month. Two other

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companies did the same and each pair costing approximately $150. "Black History
Month Product Collection, which featured jackets, caps and sneakers with the initials
(Black History Month) BHM and Be Bold, Be True emblazoned on them (Goff,
2013).
Who can forget about The Daily News reporting on the controversy with Adidas
Shackle Shoes from 2012? The Daily News is based in Manhattan, New York City,
New York. This newspaper is the fourth most widely circulated newspaper in the United
States. The Daily News continues to include large and prominent photographs, for news,
entertainment and sports, as well as intense city news coverage. The shoes were
discontinued from production when there a major uproar about the shackles were
reminiscent of slavery (Duerson, 2012). The creator of the original design, Jeremy Scott,
expressed how the design was inspired by an 80s toy, My Pet Monster. (Tie it back)
The former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling, received major
backlash from some racist comments in 2014. Rochelle Stein, Sterlings ex-wife made an
effort to show the world of the racists comments about African American people that her
ex-husband made by recording their phone conversations. However, this would not be the
first time that this has occurred. These kind of talks have been going on for the past 20
years. According to one of the leaders of the National Basketball Players' Association,
"all of our players felt like boycotting the games... we're talking about all NBA players
(and) we're talking about the playoff games..." (Eskow, 2014).
These sources make the point that, black people are not appreciated on any other
day. Having Black History Month destroys the purpose of what America claims to be
working towards. All of these sources also recognize the importance of Black History

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Month. This is month to acknowledge the accomplishments of African American people

to this society. However, the need to keep this month does not make sense because just
Morgan Freeman stated, black history is American history; it is the responsibility of the
people to teach it comprehensively and chronologically in the order of which they
happened. These sources have proven that Black History Month should be eradicated.
General suggestions
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It would be nice to have a little roadmap at the beginning so the reader

understands the headings better. The headings are great, with the roadmap they

will be understood much better.

There is a lack of transitions between source and source. Although it is a

bibliography, the reader should still be able to read it as fluent as a paper.

The title page should have a different heading. It should say Running Head:

TITLE OF YOUR PAPER on the left side and just the number on the right side.
On the rest of the pages, it should have only your title in all capitals to the left.
Without the words running head and only the number by the right. You can do

this by clicking on different first page.

You are missing your reference page.
You address the controversy of your topic wonderfully, just those little details
could make such a strong difference in the layout of your topic. Great Job!