the wa timing lets you know nothing cannot thought brian carter and i work here at the northwest african american museum in seattle and i serve as its deputy director and the museum looks at the history and the art and culture of african americans in the pacific northwest so we're looking at washington oregon idaho and even parts of british columbia all the really explore that black experience history on black history month so black history month started in the one nine hundred twenty s and it was started by  harvard trained academic named carter g woodson and he had the idea that african american history and culture in his experiences in an academic were being pushed to the margins of the dialogue and discussion so happening in america and he wanted to really really integrate african american history and culture back into a larger american dialogue and so the way that he did that was through negro history week and it was really a consciousness raising effort that's that's what he was looking to do to highlight individuals and institutions and key trends within the but community and just kind of to show that real by brits and that wonderfulness of the black community which he felt was being overlooked and under appreciated so that was kind of the start of it it was one week and from there grew into an entire month so the month of february has historically been an opportunity for i think all of america to take a look at you know the african american community i think that the african immigrant population here in the pacific northwest is a part of the historic african american community i really consider it to be our brothers and sisters in the black community and that's why the museum made the decision to have an exhibition which currently focus on seattle see the opening community and we all fall under the larger black diaspora and so to me it's as important for african immigrants living here in this region to appreciate and to understand the value in the word of black history month because it truly is a shared history that we have i mean the civil rights struggle in the united states was fueled by the black nationalist movement in africa and moves for independence and so it was this exchange of ideas and approaches and tactics so again it's this shared history and so i think it's important for  everyone to appreciate and understand why i think this museum stands as a great resource for black history month and i also think you have key leaders in the black community who are always willing to pass on that knowledge that they've captured and they're willing to share it with that next generation i would say that that history it just it shapes the present which will really define what the future is so critical critical for our youth to have an understanding of where we come from as a people and so i  think that really it falls on the parents it falls on institutions like the northwest african american museum and it falls on the leaders within the african american community you've got to you've got to reach out to the you've got to find ways to engage them with our own history so they understand who they are and also the potential for where they can go