From 1619 to Now: Why the Fight for Black History in America Isn’t Over
A century after Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Week, the struggle to protect Black history from erasure continues.
In 1619, the first African slaves arrived in the United States thus, beginning one of the most inhumane, horrific and despicable eras in world history.
It was chattel slavery known as the Atlantic Slave Trade. The enslavers knew that to be successful it was critical to find a way to control those they had in bondage. Along with brutality, they chose acculturation, a process that strips one of their religion, history, language and other cultural elements.
The enslavers understood the importance of those elements in the bonding of a people. Thus, they not only stripped the enslaved of their value system, but they also forced them to embrace a new system – one created by the enslavers. Part of process was making it illegal for the enslaved to learn to read.
Fortunately, many slaves risked their life or brutal punishment to learn to read and teach others. When slavery came to an end, the education of the formerly enslaved people was still questionable at best. Learning about the contributions of people of color was almost impossible. The information in the history books were skewed, manipulated and/or factually inept and European centered.
In the early 1900s, a remarkable young Black scholar, saw the void in the teaching of history in America. Dr. Carter G. Woodson was an author, historian and founder of the Association for the study of African American Life and History. As one of the first scholars to study the Black African Diaspora, he founded the Journal of Negro History.
In February 1926, he created Negro History Week (now Black History Month) to explore and celebrate to contributions of the Black man in America. Woodson was praised for his efforts but there was also criticism for when the celebration was.
It is now a century later and the American citizen who is of African decent is still fighting the same battle. Many in government on all levels want to limit (or eliminate) the teaching of African American history. Thus, the fight for our history continues.
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