Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain.
Those are five Americans off the top of my head that are not directly part of my lineage racially, but they are all part of my national lineage, my American heritage.
Now if I were to ask for someone to switch it around and ask for five names of African American historical figures, could you do the same?
This is my query because, believe it or not, some people question the significance of Black History month.
Common questions’mdash;or rather complaints’mdash;I hear are: ‘Why should they get their own month?’ ‘Why do they separate themselves from the rest of us?”
‘I think Black History month is racist.’ ‘Barack Obama is president now, doesn’t that mean racism is gone?” ‘Why do we need to dwell on the past?’ and ‘Who was Malcolm X?’
It would be my pleasure to clear up this issue, but we should first venture into the history of Black History month.
Black History month was first Black History week.
It was developed because history books did not contain realistic accounts of the atrocities of slavery (to say they did not give realistic accounts of slavery is a great understatement).
My parents would tell me that when they were children, Black History month was a mere week and basically all they were taught was that slavery happened.
‘ For those of you who still don’t know or understand (because there are many who do not), slavery was a period in our history that lasted well over 200 years, and it more than ‘just happened.’
It wasn’t an inconvenient time, it wasn’t simply bad, it wasn’t an uncomfortable experience for those who happened to be slaves.
It was a disgusting, vile fate that I would venture to say was almost worse than death (partially brought about by slave trade between African tribes).
Just because runaways weren’t killed or survived their trans-Atlantic voyage did not by any means make them fortunate.
Slaves on ships were closely chained together and received treatment worse than dogs.
Because of the lack of food, some slaves had to eat their own regurgitation for survival’mdash;or worse.
If you happened to be next to one of the many that died on the voyage, you would have to be chained to that individual’s decomposing corpse until you arrived to port.
Women were raped on a regular basis or forced to ‘breed’ with other slave men, only to have their children ripped from their arms to be sold off and worked like cattle in another plantation.
If you were a strong man, you were a ‘buck,’ if you were a woman, you were a ‘breeding wench.’ You were a mere possession, even a sex slave.
Gathering all the slaves together to see torture and decapitation, removal of genitalia and other disgusting acts on their fellow slaves was a common occurrence to terrorize slaves.
That is a history not always portrayed in schoolbooks whether you want to believe it happened or not; it did.
Black History month was not a separation of our history from everyone else’s (because at that time it already was); it was simply another exhibit in classroom’s American history tour.
Many feel threatened by Black History month’mdash;some say that going into detail about what happened is somehow antagonizing white people.
‘ Let me just tell you now that it doesn’t and that’s ridiculous.
The only reason I could think of why someone would be threatened by the notion of learning about slavery and other aspects of our history is because maybe they want history to repeat itself.
Did anyone ever think that we had a whole different type of history than the rest of American society?
For example, when George Washington was fighting the battle for ‘independence,’ slavery was a 170-year-old tradition.
Later, while Albert Einstein (a German adopted by America) received his Nobel Prize, the culturally rich Harlem Renaissance was going on’mdash;all the while, lynchings blazed across the south.
One must realize the socially correct sugarcoated versions of black history are not all that reliable’mdash;Beyonce, Flava Flav, ‘New York’ and video girls do not represent my culture.
My culture is rich with artists, scientists, thinkers and abolitionists who all contributed to who we are today.
Obama is not the end of Black History (nor is he the symbol for the end of racism), but he is a good example of why we need to look back in time.
He showed it takes hard work to get to where he is.
It also took hard work for him to even dream of having his position.
Nat Turner, George Washington Carver, Aretha Franklin, Peg Leg Joe and the true story of Malcolm X.
If you don’ know them already, try and get to know them this month. Learn your country’s history.
Black History month is also your history month.
Nicole Robinson may be reached at nrobinson@ut.edu.
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