St. Louis Public Radio | By Andrea Y. Henderson

Published Feb. 27, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. CST

On a February afternoon, nine junior and senior students joyfully entered their Women, Race and Society class inside Rosati-Kain Academy in the Central West End neighborhood. Students were eager to discuss their presentations about who they would select as their cabinet if they were president.

The cabinet members included activist Angela Davis, the late congressman John Lewis, LGBTQ rights activist Marsha P. Johnson and boxing champion Muhammad Ali. Junior Savannah Edwards chose a civil rights activist who led lunch counter sit-ins and Freedom Rides to the Deep South in the 1960s.

“My favorite cabinet member was my girl, Diane Nash,” Edwards,16, said. “She was just real cool, because she did a lot of stuff as she was a kid [and] as she was a student, and that means a lot, because it can show students can really make a big difference.”

The children were engaged in each student’s cabinet selections, because they know a wider view of African American history is not being taught in many schools across the country, including schools in the St. Louis area.

All month long, people are celebrating the achievements of Black Americans and observing historical events as the country commemorates Black History Month. The celebrations began 100 years ago and have since expanded.

Educator Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week in 1926. It was initially held in the second week of February to coincide with the birthday celebrations of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln. Woodson wanted everyone to know about the achievements of African Americans and their history, not just academics and intellectuals.

Both senior Amyra Alexander, 18, and junior Phoenix Butler, 16, said they were frustrated with the history lessons from their previous schools, because the teachers taught about different world wars that included violence, but did not teach about slavery or racism.

‘Black history erasure’

Despite federal pressures to stop schools, museums and government entities from presenting any information about Black History — specifically slavery, civil rights and systemic racism — many African Americans are still trying to keep the spirit of Black History month alive.

However, erasure has been happening over the last few years. School districts have been banning books about racism and the country’s history of it. The federal government is forcing corporations, universities and businesses to dismantle their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. And just last month, the National Park Service removed a Philadelphia exhibit about slavery. However, the Trump Administration restored it after a federal judge’s ruling.

Regardless of the multiple efforts to do away with Black history, Woodson’s legacy is honored every time people celebrate, recognize and preserve Black history, said Robert Vinson, director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia.

Vinson said the teaching and celebration of Black history over the past century have led to monumental change, including the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Black studies courses being offered at colleges and universities. He said the recent efforts to ban Black history are pushing the country backwards.

“I think Carter G. Woodson, if he was living today, he would be very sad about that, but I don’t think he would be particularly surprised, because that has been the nature of this country trying to suppress our history for all of these years,” Vinson said. “It’s an ongoing battle, and we make progress, and sometimes there’s regress, but progress is never linear, so we have to keep struggling. We have to keep pushing the message.”

‘Students wanting more’

Around 2021, Julie Murphy, Rosati-Kain Academy’s head of curriculum, said she started to notice a gap in their coursework as students became more interested in learning about African American history and how it affects their everyday lives. To help bring perspective to what the students were already seeing on social apps during the time, she created the course Women, Race and Society. The course was taught by another teacher, but Murphy began instructing the upper-level elective course in 2023.

“Because of social media and just how our society is kind of at a boiling point with a lot of these issues, along with the students feeling frustrated that the only people that they learn about are Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman,” she said. “They want to know who else is involved and what did they do … who was next to them, who are we not seeing, who wrote history, who was involved.”

And while in Murphy’s class, she has opened a safe space for learning about the hard history lessons of people of color and transformative women, as well as their stories of empowerment. On Feb. 17, the students were also learning about the Black Panther Party’s Black Child’s Pledge, which she had them read aloud in class.

The students, who were of diverse backgrounds, said they felt empowered after reading the pledge because it laid out how children should respect their minds and bodies to prepare them for the future.

They also brought up to Murphy during their community circle discussion time that learning about African American history debunks stereotypes about Black people. Amelia Lazarus,17, said she is disgusted every time she sees a negative depiction of African Americans on television, especially if it is about their hair or body.

Linh Le, 17, enjoys coming to the class because she learns something new about African American history every day. Le, who is Vietnamese, said the class is a positive addition to her other coursework because she gets to share what she has learned about Black history with friends who live overseas.

“I usually like to talk to my friends in Vietnam about Black life … and they would be really surprised, and they ask me a lot of stuff about stereotypes of Black people,” Le said. “I am really happy that my friend asked me about that instead of assuming first.”

The senior said her friends openly ask her about Black History Month and how it is celebrated.

“I learned a lot from social media, because they post a lot about many issues [that pertain to] Black history,” she said. “I want to spread awareness about Black people and [not] stereotypes.”

‘A better future’

Historians and educators say uplifting and holding space for teaching Black history creates impact and lasting change, no matter the country. Today, Black History Month is celebrated during various months around the world; including in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and several countries in Africa.

Karsonya Wise Whitehead, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which Woodson founded, said it’s up to Black Americans to ensure the truth remains and that it is spoken loudly.

“The incredible contributions that Black people have made to America is the reason why we can stand in this space, and we can understand that Black history is American history,” she said.

As the commemorations of Black history turn 100, Wise Whitehead said people must look to the historied past of segregation, the assassinations of Black leaders, the increase of the Black middle class and the gain of political excellence in order to see a brighter future.

“Even in the midst of white supremacy, of racism, of capitalism, the Black community has stood tall. They built their community, they loved, they laughed, they struggled both forward and they pushed back,” Wise Whitehead said.

“We’re at a century now, and we can really take a moment and lift up where we come from and use the lessons that we have learned thus far to help us to prepare forward.”

“We talk about all different types of sensitive topics, but when it comes to another race that’s been oppressed for years and years, we don’t want to talk about it,” Butler said. “We [the country] think we are taking away the oppression by erasing it, but no, you’re erasing our history and yours too.”