This is my 100th Black History Month profile and I feel that makes me a bona fide black historian. I'm certainly not black -- I'm snowman pale, I can't dance, and I can barely dunk on an 8-foot basketball goal -- but I do I think I've got at least a little African-Americred. I grew up in an all-black neighborhood, I know all the words to Whoomp There It Is, and I think I might have said "shawty" once. Now, I'm not saying I'm as worthy a BHM honoree as, say, George Washington Carver or Steve Urkel, but I do think that my four years of highlighting lesser-known black heroes is admirable in its own way. Certainly as admirable as anything a certain black US President has accomplished during the past four years. Easy digs like that aside, I'm proud of my little collection, and I'm grateful that it has resonated with at least a few of the people with whom I've shared them. I've enjoyed writing these profiles every year and it's hard to imagine not continuing to write them in the future. I guess it's true, once you go black, you really can't go back.
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