Every year of my twenty-one years of living in the United States I have celebrated Black History Month in some form or fashion, and have consistently been met with white people demanding their own month of acknowledgement.

Now, up until this point, like many other conscious individuals nowadays, I had taken the stance of arguing that every month is technically white history month considering that white people control mainstream entertainment, media, corporations, education, etc.

But in lieu of my character developing into a more generous human being, and too many white people insanely demanding it, I want to propose the white history month that we all need.

For starters, I think it’s important to acknowledge white history in the US because it truly has had such a monumental impact on the American people and, if we’re really honest with ourselves, the world.

Just to give a quick overview of some of the white historical figures and points that need to be highlighted in this hypothetical white history month, let’s start with European beginnings of the Americas.

According to too many white Americans, Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who discovered the New World, which was later named America by Europeans. But if we’re going to reflect on the life of Columbus properly on Columbus Day, then we have to include a bit more information.

In reality, Columbus had only visited a land that had already been “discovered” by Vikings, and was actually inhabited by natives and those who were participating in the transatlantic slave trade prior to European involvement.

In short, no, Columbus didn’t “discover” America. If anything, he should be more known for spawning the colonization of America and beating, raping, killing and ultimately hijacking the land from native and indigenous peoples.

Another point in white history that seems to get watered down is the argument that slavery was already prevalent in Africa, and Africans were being sold into the Atlantic slave trade. This argument is typically used by white people who are attempting to argue that Europeans participating in slavery was not so different and seemingly justified.

I won’t lie, the first time I heard this argument from a white person, it took me a bit off guard even though I still felt as if there was something more to it. Of course, there was.

Yes, Africans sold other Africans across the atlantic and even to Europeans once they realized how profitable the slave system was, but let’s get more specific, shall we?

If I have learned anything from my Transatlantic Slave Trade class this semester it’s that American slavery WAS NOT African slavery. The in-and-out groups created to justify slavery in Africa were war captives and those who had a debt to repay.

Unlike white American slavery, African slavery didn’t practice chattel slavery and slaves were not only given certain rights, but were sometimes able buy their way out of slavery.

Once Europeans had begun participating in the Atlantic slave trade, they gave us a regular practice of chattel slavery and a belief in race, which quickly began to be their justification for enslaving people of color, more specifically, black people.

But wait. There’s more.

I would be remiss if I didn’t speak on the white father of gynecology himself, James Marion Sims, considering he is an important white figure that contributed quite a bit to America.

For those who are unaware, Sims is mostly known for developing a surgical technique for the repair of vesiovaginal fistula, which is a tract between the vagina and the bladder that causes the involuntary discharge of urine into the vaginal vault.

On the surface, Sims seems to be such a pal for figuring out this surgical technique until you learn that he and his assistants specifically used black female slaves as guinea pigs in order to carryout their experiments.

Sims also has a few statues that are located in New York, Alabama and his birthplace, South Carolina. Unfortunately, none of the plaques at these sites include this vital information about experimenting on and killing a lot of black women, and I think this is a disservice to white people who are so eager to learn their history.

Plus, I don’t think you can metaphorically slap a black woman harder in the face than by creating public statues of a white man who experimented on them for many years in the past.

Needless to say, there is much more to be learned and known about white history, but I think it is clear that it needs to be given a second look, and maybe even a month for historical lessons and clarifications.