Monday, March 18, 2013

Would You Deny Four Hundred Years of Your Own History?

America is the only country I know of that considers four hundred years of its own history a mere footnote, even though that history almost destroyed the country in the Civil War. Yes, I'm talking about the slave trade, and Jim Crow laws.


Most of what is known about slavery and Jim Crow law by six generations of Americans comes from the following three sources. 1)Hollywood, where accomplishments of Blacks that were depicted on film often used white actors; 2) news organizations, books, college courses, etc, that omitted or distorted news about a whole range of issues concerning Black life; 3)the education system where Black history was not taught in schools. For this blog post let's  first take a look at the evolution of formal education in North Carolina,  my family’s American ancestral home.     

Since I am not a historian in the academic sense, 
I asked
Earl Ijames, esteemed curator at the North Carolina Museum of History for some guidance. Here are his comments, which are not necessarily the views of the NC Museum of History itself: 

"After the Civil War and into the early Reconstruction Era, the Slave Codes were replaced with Black Codes that worked to further subjugate African Americans into second class status. By the end of the 19th century, the (NC) Democratic Party platform was White Supremacy. With such a platform, one could not teach Mali, Songhai, and Ghana in the common curriculum. After the 1898 Coup d' Etat at Wilmington, NC, Gov. Ch. B. Aycock demanded in his 1900 platform that every white male get at least an 8th grade education, segregated, of course.

Therefore, we get the system of Jim Crow established in the early 1900's which lasted until "integration" was established in your respective school district. By 1926 Dr. Carter G. Woodson introduces Negro History Week which was meant to offset the blatant racism in academics at that time. Negro History Week was expanded to Black History Month in 1976.

Thank you for your request. Your question is complex, almost akin to the evolution of racism. I don't think that we can point a finger at a specific person(s). However, we can point to periods in time. As racism evolved to justify slavery, and later the Jim Crow Era of segregation, information which directly conflicted it was systematically prohibited.

There have been various and sundry prominent individuals who have acted inconspicuously to exclude Black History.

You can also refer your audience to www.nccivilrights.org for more content."


Earl Ijames

For me, I'm not concerned about what anyone has to say about my race, I'm only concerned about what they haven't said. As Black people we must say it ourselves. There are links on the right side of the home page for those who want to do their own research. 

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