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Pellom McDaniels III, a professor and former defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs, talks after Convocation to Trey Bures, a PC senior and Chiefs fan.

February 3, 2010

Pellom McDaniels III, a history professor at the University of Missouri - Kansas City who played in the NFL in the 1990's, delivered this year's Black History Convocation lecture on February 2.

McDaniels, who spoke mainly about Carter G. Woodson, the man who would essentially create Black History Month, began his talk by reminding the Belk Auditorium crowd of the significance of history in their everyday lives.

“You can't ignore history,” McDaniels said. “It's all around you. You can try to avoid it, but when you do, you miss a valuable opportunity to learn something about yourself.”

In addition, McDaniels recounted the life, education, and teaching of Carter G. Woodson, whom McDaniels called a “great American storyteller of African American life and culture.”

According to McDaniels, Woodson noticed that the contributions of African Americans were not included in history curriculum at Berea College (KY) or Harvard University, both schools which Woodson attended.

“To rectify this omission,” McDaniels said, “Woodson would devote the remainder of his life to assuring that future generations would not suffer the same neglect of their place in history or in the place of a nation.”

While teaching in Washington, DC public schools between 1912-1915, Woodson published The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 and later published the Journal of Negro History. In 1926, Woodson began Negro History Week to publicize African Americans' contributions to the nation and to promote social acceptance between the races, according to McDaniels.

Negro History Week evolved into Black History Month in February 1976. According to McDaniels, February was chosen as a way of honoring Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two significant figures in African American history who have February birthdays.

“History is living and breathing, and each of us is a part of it,” McDaniels said. “Everything that we do, you have to be accountable for it. You have to remember that you have an impact on the world as it unfolds.”