Black History Month is the annual celebration of African Americans and their accomplishments throughout American history. Black History Month is celebrated throughout the whole nation, and many other countries have picked up this idea. February has become the official “Black History Month,” and each president since Gerald Ford has continued to honor and shine a light on this month.

Though the point of this month is to commemorate African-American historical figures and all of their achievements, this month was also created to celebrate the present-day black community. Due to this, there are many different opinions on the month, and the “correct” way of celebrating it.

I was given the opportunity to interview historian, public speaker, author, activist, educator, and columnist for the Criterion, Mrs. Eva Doyle. Though the list of her talents and accomplishments go on and on, I was able to speak to her about her work in black history and her views on Black History Month. I believe that there is no one more qualified to speak on this topic, since she has dedicated all of her life’s work on African-American history. And as a former teacher, Mrs. Doyle spoke on how she believes schools in Buffalo are doing on correctly educating their students on black history.

When asked what she thinks of when thinking about Black History Month, the answer I got really made me think twice about the future of Black History Month.

“When people talk about Black History Month, there’s still a lot of work to do, even though I’ve been doing this for my newspaper column, which is 44 years old this month, and I’ve just been doing it for so long. But there’s still a lot of work,” Doyle said.

Hearing this from Mrs. Doyle truly gave me hope for the future of America. Seeing that people are really dedicating their lives to informing others on the history of African Americans. Seeing that people really care.

Watch my video to learn more.