Black History

“Beautiful, bustling, and Black”—that was how author, attorney and activist Hannibal B. Johnson described the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in his book “Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District.”

This Black History Month, the Banner is teaming up with WriteBoston’s Teens In Print program, highlighting young voices of color. Each week, we will feature the work of three new students, who will deliver their perspectives on Black History and what it means to them.

As I reflect on Black History Month 2025, I’m reminded why my late husband, Roland, and I wrote “Still I Rise: A Cartoon History of African Americans,” followed by our updated edition “Still I Rise: A Graphic History of African Americans.”

As we celebrate Black History Month, we honor the rich, diverse and powerful stories that have shaped and continue to shape our culture, history and future. At ROXFILM, we revel in the strength, resilience and creativity of our ROXFILM family and beyond as they continue to amplify voices that have been overlooked or underrepresented.

What real power do we have at this moment? At a minimum, we have the power of thought, the power of our wallets and the power of our collective action.

When people introduce me as a “Black leader,” I gently correct them: I am a leader who happens to be Black. This isn’t just a matter of semantics; it’s about how we frame leadership in America.

My mother once said to me that history is the skeleton inside a living country. It made sense to me that if we haven’t formed a clear understanding of what happened and why, how are we to make good decisions going forward?

What will historians say a century from now about this moment in Black history? Looking back, will they see the first quarter of the 21st century as a pivotal moment of retrenchment, comparable to the imposition of Jim Crow after the promises of the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction?

“Black Power” is often reduced to a set of easily recognizable figures — Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party, or the speeches of Kwame Ture. However, its ideological breadth stretches beyond these familiar icons.

I have always been curious about African American history because when I was growing up, the inquisitive kid that I was, there was no mention in my textbooks that we as a people individually or collectively contributed to anything.

My father, Bob Hayden, served many roles in our community: president of Boston’s NAACP, executive director of METCO, a regular columnist for the Bay State Banner, assistant superintendent of Boston Public Schools, a professor of African American studies at several Boston area universities and colleges, author of several books about Black excellence, and the preeminent expert on Black history in Boston and beyond.

Frederick Douglas is dead.  In 2017, President Donald J. Trump didn’t appear to know this fact. However, in 2025, he may still not know.