Mediapost spotlighted Brennan Nevada Inc. Founder and CEO Brennan Nevada Johnson, a descendant of Black History Month Creator Carter G. Woodson…
Agency Leader Brennan Nevada Johnson On Why Black History Month Matters
By Steve McClellan
Brennan Nevada Johnson runs a PR and media agency that represents Black and minority-owned tech companies and startups.
She’s also a descendant of Black History Month founder Carter G. Woodson and has some concerns about not just his legacy but the way Black History will (or won’t) be portrayed in the future.
Woodson was a Harvard-trained scholar and the second African American to earn a Ph. D. there (behind W.E.B. Du Bois). He’s widely credited with establishing the first Negro History Week in 1926, the forerunner to the expanded Black History Month that was founded 50 years later.
In a recent article she penned for Newsweek, Johnson points to last year’s Supreme Court decision removing race as a consideration for college admission, which she believes will create “unfair barriers” to education for Black Americans. She also notes the actions of school districts in Texas and Florida to ban books on Black history.
“With today’s efforts to erase Black history from the classroom, a famous quote by Woodson continues to play through my head: ‘Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history,’” Johnson wrote.
A 10+ year industry veteran, Johnson launched her own agency, Brennan Nevada Inc. (Nevada being her middle name) in October 2021. She’s quickly grown a client roster that includes SoLo Funds, the largest Black-owned community finance technology company that offers a peer-to-peer lending marketplace; MACH9, a Hispanic-owned digital marketing agency for highly regulated brands; and SuperRare, an art-focused NFT marketplace among others.
Asked if she feels that Carter Woodson’s own legacy is in danger, she replies, “yes, it is,” noting that last year Morgan Freeman, “one of my favorite actors of all time said he considered Black History Month to be an insult.” That’s unfortunate, she asserts, as she feels the actor is “essentially dismissing Woodson’s great work. I’m making it my duty to consistently write articles that highlight and educate the masses about his legacy and Woodson’s objectives for Black History Month. The media is a very powerful tool and by sparking up important conversations and keeping his hopes and dreams alive for Black History Month is something that needs to happen beyond February.”
And looking more broadly at culture and recent DEI efforts, particularly in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020, she is disappointed at some fading corporate commitments made back then.
“Truthfully, I never believed these initiatives were sincere, nor did I think they would last long-term, and I saw these lofty statements and commitments as a way for companies to take advantage of Black people and essentially not get cancelled. If you look at what’s happening today especially in the tech world which my business is in, those same organizations that were preaching how they are going to prioritize DE&I have removed the programs entirely, cutting budgets and development programs, and laying off DEI employees more than any other department.”
And she is also troubled by how Black History Month is sometimes celebrated. “I’m concerned about the whitewashing that is happening,” she says. “I’m also equally frustrated with the businesses that get highlighted during Black History Month. They tend to be companies that are all about the “culture” or fashion and beauty, which is great.”
But, she adds, “there needs to be more emphasis and spotlight on the Black businesses and entrepreneurs that are making a true positive impact in the Black community such as in banking, housing, education, medical and legal fields...Those that are moving our people forward to a better life.”
That, she adds, “is what Woodson would have wanted.”
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