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MIDDLETOWN — Some black adults say they are becoming increasingly concerned about many black youths who seem to know little about black history.

Some placed the blame squarely on the educational system, but others looked in the mirror, saying black elders have failed to effectively pass along that history or make it relevant to today's youth.

"I don't believe, locally, we've done as good a job as we could, and it's no one person's fault," said the Rev. Elmon Prier, a pastor and pupil services facilitator at Middletown High School. "Our children know less about themselves now than at any other time."

Prier said that's a dangerous notion because, as the old saying goes, "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it" — an unsettling idea for a race that has endured slavery, lynchings and legalized segregation. Not knowing their history also may rob black youths of pride, inspiration and hope, he said.

"Many of the things that we were taught growing up about our history was a source of pride," Prier said. "It drove us on to go to college, to do well and be somebody."

Black history lessons first must start at home, Prier said. And the message has to resonate with youths against the clamor of technology and hip-hop culture.

"Our kids nowadays are identifying with a totally different group of role models," said Kee Edwards, principal of Rosa Parks Elementary in Middletown. "They are relating to athletes and TV personalities now more than ever."

Joey Brown, a Middletown senior, admitted he doesn't think he knows enough about black history.

Most of what he knows, he said, comes from films and documentaries he's watched with his family.

A study recently conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute found that minority college students knew little about American history, let alone black history.

"Black History Month is going to continue to be needed until we are adequately represented in textbooks in this country," said Jim Ewers, chief student affairs officer at Miami University Middletown. "Black history is American history and it should be a part of everyday learning.

"We try to crowd the media, and we try to crowd the schools with every African-American history fact in a span of 28 or 29 days, and you can't do it," he said. "It's absolutely impossible."

Black history awareness

Conversations about black history were common in Edwards' household growing up.

Whether it was listening to his grandparents share stories around the kitchen table or getting a history lesson from his schoolteacher mother, Edwards said he always had an appreciation for the struggles and sacrifices endured by his forefathers.

"It served as motivation for me," Edwards said. "It heightened my own self worth knowing that there were black men and women who had done great things."

Edwards is now principal of an elementary school in Middletown that bears the name of one of the civil rights pioneers — Rosa Parks ­— he learned about so many years ago. But Edwards acknowledged that many of his students lack the same awareness he had at their age about black historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington.

"I don?t know if those conversations are going on strong now in the houses of many of our students," Edwards said. "Without them knowing how great a race of people we were, they don't aspire to do those great things."

Exposure is key

Edwards articulates a concern common among many black adults. At a time when seemingly limitless amounts of information are a mere mouse click away, black youth seem to know less and less about their black heritage. It's a troubling trend many black adults, locally and nationally, are trying to end.

Ewers said both schools and parents are culpable.

"You have to be intentional about delivering knowledge," Ewers said of parents. "You've got to sit your child down and make sure that he or she sees series like 'Eyes on the Prize,' so that they can appreciate where they are right now."

Ewers said he made sure his daughter and two sons had library cards and that he read to them regularly about prominent black Americans. They also took numerous trips to museums and historically black colleges and even met prominent leaders such as Julian Bond, chairman of the National NAACP, he said.

"We gave them meaningful experiences and they had opportunities to see firsthand the challenges that African-Americans faced," Ewers said. "Exposure is the key to raising the level of awareness and consciousness about our history."

Efforts to teach, learn

Also key is getting information about the black scientists, scholars, doctors and others who have contributed to American society into textbooks, some black adults say.

"Our teachers are making a good effort to supplement their lessons," Edwards said. "But (black students) don't see themselves in the textbooks and the books in the library."

Still, some black students gain most, if not all, of their knowledge of black history from school.

Miranda Calhoun, a senior at Middletown High School, said she doesn't talk much with her family about black history but feels she knows enough about it.

"We learn it all the time in school," she said.

MHS junior Allen Roberts said he talks about black history frequently with his grandparents and extended family.

"They explain things to me like in their case, as in they were there," Roberts said, noting his family's personal stories give him a better understanding of the history, what it means and the freedoms he is now able to enjoy. "If I didn?'t know, I probably couldn't do some of the things I do now," he said.

A disconnect exists

The Rev. Gregory Tyus, Middletown Board of Education president, said adults focus too much on the past.

"There is a difference between dwelling on the past and sharing knowledge of the past," he said. "It is important to talk about the Civil Rights Movement, but sometimes we let the pain of that speak louder than the history." Key, Tyus said, is "understanding why it happened and relating it to what is happening in today's society."

Comment: How can black history awareness among black youth be heightened?