Black History: Scant Representation of People with Disabilities

As a child, I was steeped in Black history. The school I attended was named for Countee Cullen, a poet who became famous during the Harlem Renaissance. I share a birthday with Paul Laurence Dunbar, another Black poet who was a contemporary and friend of the Wright brothers. After saying the Pledge of Allegiance, my class sang every verse of "Lift Every Voice and Sing", also known as the "Black national anthem". Black history was not just for the month of February; every day, our class was taught about a famous Black American. Looking back, I realize that there was scant representation of people with disabilities in our Black history classes.

There were only two people with disabilities that I learned about in my Black history classes - Harriet Tubman and Wilma Rudolph. Harriet Tubman, famed abolitionist and Conductor on the Underground Railroad, sustained a brain injury as a child at the hand of her slave master, resulting in narcolepsy. Wilma Rudolph was an Olympic track star who had polio. Of course, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, both blind, were music's superstars back then, but they were not mentioned anywhere in Black history courses.

Under slavery, one could not have a disability and survive. Slaves with disabilities were seen as burdens and often killed. The ones who survived learned to hide their disabilities until they could prove to the master that they could work. This is certainly why, other than Harriet Tubman, there is no mention of the accomplishments of people with disabilities during the time of slavery in the United States.

Even today, looking through books and other materials on Black history, or notable Black Americans, I find that there is little or no mention of people with disabilities. It is almost as if we don't exist.

The reason for this is simple. People with disabilities are devalued by society, which continue to see us as burdens or problems. Even when our accomplishments are many, we are virtually unknown outside of our groups or professions, unless we happen to be gifted artists or notorious figures. This holds true in the Black community as well.

When textbooks of the future recount Black history, I hope they will include the story of Claudia Gordon, the first Deaf African American woman to become an attorney. I have met her several times. She is brilliant! Perhaps students will learn of Bonnie St. John, an athlete and scholar who was director of the National Economic Council during the Clinton administration. People may read about Bobby Coward and Kate Gainer, two nationally known leaders in the disability rights movement. The contributions of African Americans with disabilities to Black history are numerous and should be acknowledged and celebrated.