The Mystery of Black History

Over the years the mystery of Black History has become the misery of some of us who can not comprehend why the contributions of blacks were systematically, if not universally, excluded from the history books of the world's schools. While growing up in the south and being educated in the southern school system, I experienced this disparity first hand.


The public schools in Alabama officially integrated in 1970 while I was going into the 10^th grade. Prior to that our schools were segregated and our books were hand-me-downs from white schools. I can not remember ever having any new books prior to 1970, and the ones we did have had only a few pictures of blacks in them. We were separate but our educations were not equal in any way, despite the "separate but equal" myth espoused by some whites.

In 1926 Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard educated historian with a PHD, started "Negro History Week" in Washington, DC. Often called the "Father of Black History" in America, Dr. Woodson chose to celebrate this event during the week in February when the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas occurred (February 12^th and 14^th, respectively). The local event caught on over the years until it became a nationwide observation. In 1976, as part of the American Bicentennial celebration, "Negro History Week" was expanded and renamed "Black History Month".

Even back then the majority of us failed to accept the unsound rationale that our contributions were mistakenly overlooked and not included because they involved unimportant inventions and discoveries by little known blacks, who were largely unskilled and uneducated. College classes in the 1970s focusing on American History, International History and World History routinely included the contributions of others like the French, the Germans and the Spanish, but not enough on the contributions of blacks (darker-skinned people), who also toiled and strove to help make this great nation and world what it is today. Today's history books may focus on blacks as important sports heroes or movie stars, but we all know that they only represent a small percentage of the blacks who have made important contributions in many other arenas, including science, medicine, law enforcement, politics, religion, education, business, etc.

Human remains have been found in Africa by international anthropologists and archaeologists, who agree that these remains pre-date any others that have been unearthed. Some of these remains date back to 730 B.C., where the black pharaohs ruled ancient Egypt and Nubia and tell of an African civilization that flourished almost 2,500 years ago. On the surface, this fact certainly suggests that blacks have been around much longer than any other race. Yet for the most part, the contributions of blacks in some history books were summed up with brief biographies of George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas and Martin Luther King. For some blacks, King's historic 1963 march on Washington is where black history really begins for them. This march symbolized a coming together of people from all over the world, not just people of color. The message heard from the speakers was one of inclusion and not exclusion. King's "I Have a Dream" speech resonated with everyone throughout the crowd and throughout the world because it was time for a real change, not just dreams.

These four heroes represent a tiny percentage of the millions of successful African Americans. There is a whole wealth more of important contributions by equally important blacks, who donated their lives to bringing about the inventions and discoveries that have made our lives more comfortable and care-free. Common knowledge of inventions by blacks such as the shoe-sizing machine, the traffic light, the pencil sharpener, the clothes drier, the phonograph, the bicycle frame, etc. have often been overshadowed by better publicized inventions of others. The knowledge of some of our contributions has been buried beneath the prejudice permeated throughout our history and some of our history books.

Being only nine years old in 1963, I was too young to attend the march on Washington and my family was too poor to make the trip from Alabama. However, when the Million Man March occurred in Washington, DC on October 16, 1995, I was forty-one years old and there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to experience such a gathering. I had recently moved to Philadelphia, which was very close to DC. I joined a few good friends and their fathers as we all made our way into the crowd that early, fall morning.

At first I didn't know what to expect at the sight of a million men of all different colors, sizes, heights, weights, professions, religious denominations, etc. as we stood there on that chilly morning holding hands in silence and prayer as a symbol of atonement for our collective sins. We wanted to atone for our sins against our women, our families, our society and ourselves. As I stood there with my head bowed, I searched my mind for an analogy that I could compare to this event in an effort to relate my experience to others. The only image I could use to describe this event was when I thought to myself, "This must have been the way my ancestors felt as they stood in silence, chained together by fate and circumstance, as they waited to be sold on the auction block." Years after my experience at the Million Man March I have never found a better analogy or feeling than the one I described back then. I realize now that I am a part of black history and I will relate this experience to my son.

Only recently have the demands for more focus concerning the contributions of blacks gained enough steam to be taken seriously. Hollywood has mined our history by presenting our stories to us on the big screen. Think of all the recent biographical movies about black history that have tried to tell our stories: The Color Purple, Roots, Amistad, Dorothy Dandridge, Louis Armstrong, Rosewood, The Tuskegee Experiment, Stephen Biko, Malcolm X, Charlie Parker, The Tuskegee Airmen, Driving Miss Daisy, Glory, Lean on Me, Jimi Hendrix, Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, The Hurricane, and many, many more to come. Hollywood is just beginning to realize the gold inside the mine of black history. For once, integration has become more profitable than segregation, yet separate but equal is still a myth.

Additionally, large numbers of black students are returning to historically black colleges and universities to reclaim the heritage and pride that they feel are not offered at other schools. However, other blacks have comfortably accepted the exclusions of black history in our schools and work places by passively resisting any opportunity to help make their pride and heritage known. They would rather read about or watch history rather than make history. No wonder such a mystery exists. We must never forget that the seeds of black history were planted so that the roots and branches of black history can spread the legacy forever. Before it's too late, I hope someday we can replace the mystery of black history with the legacy of black history. In short, the best way to solve the mystery and right some of the wrongs is for us to write and tell our own history - each of us - and all of us - everyday.