Earlier this month, my colleague Ibrahim Daair had the opportunity to do a live online interview with Jan Grabowski, a professor of history at the University of Ottawa and one of Canada’s top Holocaust scholars. The event was part of a partnership between The Conversation Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Prof. Grabowski is one of the recipients of SSHRC’s Impact Awards, which honour “the very best ideas and research about people, human thought and behaviour, and culture—helping us understand and improve the world around us, today and into the future.”

Prof. Grabowski’s research is fascinating – he wrote an article about it for us this month – because it looks at the role of the “bystander” in Nazi-occupied Poland during the war. As he wrote in his article, “the results of many years of research pointed to the fact that at least two-thirds of Jews who went into hiding had either been murdered or betrayed to the Nazis by their Polish neighbours.” Instead of being praised for exposing this dark history, he was sued for libel under a Polish law that makes it illegal for anyone who claims that Poles were complicit in the atrocities committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

“The defence of history and the struggle to preserve our right to know what has happened are among the foundations of the democratic system,” he wrote.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Prof. Grabowski’s research during Black History Month because of the ongoing debate in the United States (and, to some extent, in Canada as well) about the merits of teaching critical race theory in schools. As politicians use their offices to either ban the teaching of critical race theory or water down other Black history courses, this denial of the past continues to be a problem in the 21st century.

History should make us feel uncomfortable. Understanding the past can lead to a stronger, more equitable society in the future. For your reading on the last weekend of Black History Month, I’ve included a selection of recent and archive stories from The Conversation network.

Have a great weekend and we’ll be back in your Inbox on Monday.

Scott White

CEO | Editor-in-Chief

Weekend Reads: Black History Month

W.E.B. Du Bois, Black History Month and the importance of African American studies

Chad Williams, Brandeis University

As the 20th century’s preeminent scholar-activist on race, W.E.B. Du Bois would not be surprised by modern-day attempts at whitewashing American history. He saw them in 1930s and 1940s.

New Advanced Placement African American Studies course is a watered down version of itself

Suneal Kolluri, University of California, Riverside

A college readiness scholar says the new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies has been weakened by political pressure from the right.

Black History Month: These trailblazing Black athletes transformed Canadian sports

Nicole W. Forrester, Toronto Metropolitan University

Canada’s pioneering Black athletes may be unknown to many, but their efforts paved the way for others who went on to perform at the highest levels.

Bill Russell’s legacy of NBA championships and cerebral fight for equal rights

Aram Goudsouzian, University of Memphis

Bill Russell leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of winning championships and civil rights activism during a time of racial segregation.

Harriet Tubman led military raids during the Civil War as well as her better-known slave rescues

Kate Clifford Larson, Brandeis University

Harriet Tubman has long been known as a conductor on the Underground Railroad leading enslaved Black people to freedom. Less known is her role as a Union spy during the Civil War.

How some enslaved Black people stayed in Southern slaveholding states – and found freedom

Viola Franziska Müller, University of Bonn

Instead of using the secret routes along the Underground Railroad to find freedom in the North, thousands of enslaved Black people fled to free Black communities in Southern slaveholding states.

A brief history of the Black church’s diversity, and its vital role in American political history

Jason Oliver Evans, University of Virginia

Millions of enslaved Africans were forcefully converted to the Christian faith. The Black church came about when African Americans began to establish their own congregations.

How American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson became a hero in China

Gao Yunxiang, Toronto Metropolitan University

In China, Robeson continues to be remembered as a loyal friend celebrated for popularizing what became China’s national anthem and building solidarity between peoples of China and African Americans.

A must-read list: The enduring contributions of African American women writers

Nancy Kang, University of Manitoba

Here is a small list of pivotal texts by African American women from the past century.

We curated a podcast playlist for you: Revisit these conversations for Black History Month

Vinita Srivastava, The Conversation; Ateqah Khaki, The Conversation

The episodes on this playlist span the start of the pandemic with its worldwide demonstrations against anti-Black racism, to the most recent violence this winter.

The Conversation Weekly podcast

After oil: the challenge and promise of getting the world off fossil fuels – podcast

Nehal El-Hadi, The Conversation; Daniel Merino, The Conversation

Political will is necessary for governments to move away from oil. But alternative energies are not all that they seem, and should be considered carefully beyond the appearance of sustainability.