Annette John-Hall: Make February a month of real history

My love for greens and cornbread knows no bounds. In fact, I cooked some (along with macaroni and cheese, and short ribs) for dinner on Sunday.

That I eat them in February is mere coincidence.

Here's the thing: I don't limit my soul-food consumption to one month of the year. Anybody who knows me knows it is an ongoing feast.

Same with black history.

But I'm guessing businesses like the Acme Markets in Delaware assume differently. Why else would they put out a circular promoting collard greens, cornbread and grape soda with a big banner going across the page that promoted their Black History Month selections?

Please. I don't even like grape soda.

Also on the ethnic circular were President Obama DVDs and Jose Ole chimichangas and tacos.

I'm not sure what's more insensitive: a supermarket's full-court press of soul food in honor of Black History Month or Mexican food getting reduced to an afterthought.

This crass commercialism and cultural insensitivity are part of the reason some people complain that Black History Month has outlived its usefulness.

The chorus has gotten louder in the era of Obama.

After all, we have an African American president now. Everything he does writes another chapter in history. American history.

Which is the way it should be - stories of all races and cultures entwined to create a uniquely American story.

Sadly, history wasn't written that way.

African American history was not only ignored; it was erased, revised, even reviled.

I was reminded of that while touring the "America I AM" exhibit, celebrating nearly 500 years of African American contributions, at the Constitution Center last weekend.

Just seeing all of the memorabilia - collectible figurines and images of demeaning stereotypes used to sell household goods - it's no wonder that blacks felt the need to separate themselves and tell their own stories.

Not out of choice but out of necessity.

Which is why in 1926 historian Carter G. Woodson came up with Negro History Week (expanded to Black History Month in the 1970s) - as a way to build up a people systematically beaten down by centuries of low self-worth, vicious racism and outright lies.

But now, in light of the enormous gains made by African Americans, Black History Month almost feels too narrow, too contrived.

Imagine it. A Black History Month without a knee-jerk recitation of "I Have a Dream." Or another rent-a-speaker lecturing on the horror of slavery, or the struggle for civil rights. Or not having to fake the third verse of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" for yet another Black History Month luncheon.

I'm not saying these are bad things. But it's a new day. We need to figure out a new way.

Don't get me wrong. I still think we need Black History Month, especially as long as we have to protest to be included in American history - as those, for example, who fought to preserve slave history at the President's House excavation on Independence Mall.

But we ought to reject the managed, McDonald's moment kind of history, and use our rich past to help pave the way to a better future.

African Americans have progressed far beyond the point of justifying our existence. From Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas, from Colin Powell to Condoleezza Rice, we have shown that black history comes in all shapes, genders and ideologies.

And if President Obama has taught us anything, it's that how you live determines the history you'll make.

It was one thing to make Martin Luther King's Birthday a national holiday, but it's another, more viable thing to live his legacy by volunteering during a national day of service and beyond.

That way, all of us, no matter what race or ethnicity, can go down in history - no matter what month it is.