Why the Right Is Terrified of Black History Month

As the U.S. marks the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, historian Dr. Gerald Horne joins Eugene Puryear and Rania Khalek to break down the Trump administration’s escalating war on how slavery and racism are taught.

From labeling lessons on racism as “indoctrination” to physically stripping references to George Washington’s slaveholding from national sites, Trump’s attack on history is accelerating.

Horne traces Black History Month back to its origins as a radical “anti-defamation” project by Dr. Carter G. Woodson and argues that today’s backlash is part of a broader, centuries-old effort: to erase the central role of slavery, settler colonialism, and racial terror in the very founding of the United States.

Why are they so desperate to bury this history? Because, as Horne warns, these stories of resistance and class struggle remain a direct threat to those in power today.

“Black History Month is essential for the US working class as a whole because it provides a model of how to struggle under adverse and difficult conditions.”