The first traffic light, the first blood bank, the first crop of wheat planted in the New World -- many people don't realize that these were all accomplished by black people.

Every year, Black History Month aims to enlighten people with facts about the history of black people. But some people said many still remain unaware of black history.

Victoria Lowe (junior-agricultural science) said the problem of not knowing enough about black history may be because black people are a minority in the United States.

Contributions may also be overlooked because of reasons stemming as far back as slavery, people's lack of interest or just taking things at "face value" rather than delving deeper, Lowe added.

But Robert Jones, membership director for the Penn State Young Americans for Freedom, said he doesn't know if facts such as the race of an inventor should be required knowledge. There are many inventors we do not know who created many things, he added.

"I don't think we should point out people's achievements by color," Jones said.

Kenneth Clarke, assistant director for the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs, said these facts aren't known because of both subtle and overt racism that stops African Americans from receiving credit.

"Few people really appreciate the important contributions because, in this society, historically, there has been grudging respect for the creativity of African Americans," Clarke said, adding that not even all African Americans know these facts.

LaVerne Gyant, African/African-American studies associate professor, said if black students learn this information, it is in middle and high school where a teacher chooses to teach the material, by learning it on their own or by taking college classes in African/African-American studies.

Clarke said making this information accessible to everyone is difficult but not impossible.

"We are entering the information age. The question is who will have access to it, afford it and what information will it have?" he added.

The problem has to be tackled by African Americans and others who are sensitive to these issues, Clarke said.

John Cahir, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, said courses researching the history of different cultures and people contribute to the University's overall diversity.

Diversity-focused courses are to be used as a guide to learning these subjects and a student should get further knowledge individually, he said.

Caribbean Student Association President Donald Thompson said the University provides the classes where students can learn history, but the school system in general doesn't usually teach enough about Africans.

Lowe said the University is making a start toward providing more information with its diversity requirement, but added that she could not even remember if February was Black History Month because of the University's lack of effort to display anything except about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

The Paul Robeson Cultural Center is sponsoring 22 different programs for Black History Month, including an exhibit of African-American directed and cast films of the last 50 years at the center.

Thompson said improvement starts with changing the school system. The system is now set in a way that is totally biased to European history, he added.

But Jones said the problem is people celebrating separate races instead of humanity. Jones said what scares him is the emphasis placed on skin color, which he said is similar to Ku Klux Klan philosophy.

"I wish people would get off the whole race thing, I think that's the whole problem," he said.