History is a two-way street.

Events of the past teach lessons for the present. At the same time, achievements of today give new meaning to those that came before.

This week, the nation begins its annual observance of Black History Month. In the year since last February, some remarkable new events have established fresh connections with past events in African American history.

In June, investigators in Mississippi exhumed the body of 14-year-old Emmett Till for an autopsy in an effort to find new clues in a racial murder that outraged many Americans and launched the protests of the civil rights movement.

Shortly afterward, the Wachovia bank corporation apologized to the African American community for the participation of two predecessor banks in the nation’s slave trade in the early 1800s.

Not long after that, the United States Senate took the extraordinary step of issuing an apology of its own for not enacting a federal anti-lynching law during the violent early days of the civil rights movement.

Each of these events gave new meaning to key chapters of black history.

At the same time, African Americans of today have been writing new history with achievements in fields ranging from politics to government to sports.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the first African American woman to be named to her position, charts a new course with every action she takes as leader of U.S. foreign policy.

And basketball star Kobe Bryant just achieved a modern milestone by scoring 81 points in a single game, the most since Wilt Chamberlain hit for 100 in 1962.

Emmett Till

Investigators have reopened the case of Chicago teenager Emmett Till, whose death opened the eyes of the nation to the viciousness of racism in 1955.

Till was visiting cousins in Mississippi when he made the mistake of whistling at a white woman in a country store. Four days later, he was pulled from his bed in the middle of the night, beaten and shot and his body dumped in a river.

When his mother kept his coffin open to show the world what had been done to her son, people across the country were outraged.

Their anger increased when two white men who later boasted about killing Till were acquitted by an all-white jury.

New awareness

The apologies by Wachovia and the U.S. Senate are part of a growing trend among modern institutions to acknowledge racial injustices of the past.

Wachovia was responding to local laws in Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles requiring firms doing business in those cities to find out if they had ever participated in the slave trade.

The Senate apology, the first of its kind to African Americans, acknowledged that senators of the past had been wrong in refusing to make lynching a federal crime. Lynching — which means illegal execution by a mob — was used to terrorize African Americans. From 1882 to 1968 more than 4,700 people were killed this way, historians say.

1. Each year, the nation celebrates past achievements of African Americans. At the same time, modern milestones add new chapters to this story. In honor of Black History Month, find stories about African Americans making news today. As a class, talk about their achievements. Then talk about how modern achievements give people a new or fuller picture of achievements of the past.


2. The death of teenager Emmett Till moved thousands of people to get involved in the civil rights movement. Search the newspaper for events today that could motivate people to get involved in the community, politics or government. Pick one and write a paragraph describing why the event is important, and why it would prompt people to take action. Write a second paragraph describing positive kinds of action people could take in response to the event.


3. The civil rights movement aimed to achieve fair treatment for people of all races. Find a story in the newspaper that involves people seeking fair treatment or efforts to ensure fairness through rules or laws. Write a sentence summarizing the fairness issue. Then write a second sentence stating what you would like to see happen.


4. The Wachovia bank corporation apologized to African Americans for past business connections to slavery. Write a newspaper editorial giving your opinion on whether businesses or institutions should be held responsible for actions taken at earlier times in history. Support your opinion with facts.