I had a teacher once who said, “If you want to see the importance of black history, look around you.”

So many of the inventions that make our daily lives manageable and more comfortable — everything from hinged mailboxes to ironing boards to rock and roll music — has been invented by people of color. Though it can often be downplayed, the contributions of people of color have made our society what it is today — and that is just as true in southwest Michigan.

Most places you look in the area, you can see the impact of black history, and as we are more than halfway through Black History Month, I thought it was high time we celebrate some of the ways people of color have impacted the southwest Michigan area.

Cass County’s history is one with African American history. In the 1840s, the county became a popular destination on the Underground Railroad, with the Bonine House in Vandalia being the most famous stop in the area. As more freedom-seeking African Americans fled to Cass County, they grew the community, building churches, farms and businesses. When American author, educator and orator Booker T. Washington visited Cassopolis in the early 1900s, he wrote that he was impressed with the amount of land and leadership positions held by African Americans at the time.

Not far down the road, Niles was also a stop on the Underground Railroad. Additionally, the city was the site of the first African American Masonic Lodge in the state of Michigan.

Without this history or the contributions of our many great current African American community members, southwest Michigan would not be what it is today. This is not meant to be some grand revelation, but rather a statement of fact that is all too easily forgotten.

While we should certainly celebrate our area’s diversity every month of the year, Black History Month is a great place to start. So, over the next week or so, I would encourage everyone to do as my old teacher once instructed and “look around.” See the contributions that people of color have made to our history, appreciate the ways those contributions have made our communities what they are today and celebrate the impact our area’s diversity will have on our future.