Looking back on my days spent in grammar school, I knew at least once a year I’d hear famous tales of  Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Sojouner Truth and her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech, and Fredrick Douglas and his trailblazing visions of a better life for the negro.

Harriet Tubman

In high school, I recited poems by Langston Hughes and learned to play groundbreaking compostions by Duke Ellington and the legends of Harlem. Then in college, I was able to study and debate historic civil rights cases heard by the Supreme Court like Brown v. Board of Education (1954) - the landmark decision that allowed the desegregation of schools, and Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) - which gave the right for any accused individual to have the right to an attorney.

Now, in my adult life, I am black history.  I didn’t get to walk across the Edmund Pettis bridge in Selma, AL, nor did I walk with Louis Farrakhan at the “Million Man March.”  I didn’t get to shake Ernest Green’s hand after he had become the first black graduate of Central High in Little Rock, AR,  and I didn’t even get to call Henry T. Sampson and thank him for inventing the gamma-eletric cell which lead to the succesful creation of the cell phone.

However, it overjoys me to know that this year, my two nieces in Mississippi will know black history for themselves.  No matter the age, all people from all races and nationalities abroad can see the historic achievements made by former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and New York Governor David Paterson.

Not only will they have the struggles of Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to talk about, but the door has been opened to discover Shirley Chisolm, the first woman and first black person  to ever seek the Office of President on a major party ticket, and now our President Barack H. Obama, need I say more… but hey, that’s just the political side of things.

To our soldiers, we share in the trials and triumphs of  the  Tuskegee Airmen, sailor Dorie Miller,  and former Secretary of State and Army four-star General Colin Powell, just to name a few forerunners. We then operate daily knowing that in years to come, we’ll join the list and share our battle with generations ahead.

No matter the age, gender, or even race, this Black History Month will be the base for new arrivals in the pride of a culture once relinquished.

 * What will you do this Black History Month?

* What can we do as soldiers in Iraq to commemorate Black History Month?