From the ancients of Africa to modern day America, Africans/African Americans have been first in some of the most elaborate, technical, unique and world changing experiments/inventions and discoveries. What do the youth know about these moments in history? Common names like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and Marcus Garvey are only a few of the Icons that the youth are able to identify with as it pertains to the history of Black Folks, but what about those who have been hidden away, without credit for their great contributions of history like Daniel Hale Williams the first successful open heart surgeon, Charles Drew who is responsible for the method of separating plasma from blood so that plasma could be administered to patients regardless of their blood type and lets not forget about Askia Muhammad Ture the great King of the Songhai Empire in the late 15th century and Queen NZinga who was Queen of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people in southwestern Africa and fought against the slave trade in the 17th century. These and many more Black Folks have been hidden in history, not talked about or mentioned to the youth in history books for their great contributions. According to many Black "Historians" all people need to know about the contributions that made the most valuable impacts to society, especially when it involves teaching the history of a nation and people who were brought to the nation involuntarily. Also to allow African American children to understand that slavery isn't the only history that they have, but in order that they may understand that they come from a distinguished blood line of Kings and Queens. (See
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-340470... or
http://blackhistorypages.net/pages/nzinga.... To many, black history isn't just black history but black history is one of the most valuable contributions to the building up of America. The history of Black Folks gives the identity to the child looking for an answer. The importance of the events has helped people identify with who they are in the contemporary world. Helping many to distinguish their place in life. Helping people to understand who and what they are here for. A child loses his/her identity if it is not explained to him/her the works of his ancestors. It creates a blank space, when one only understands the terrifying part of life--separating anything that has to do with good from the identity of a small child. Proof is shown in so many different ways throughout American societies through black on black crime, torn down inner city communities, the lack of education that is given in the inner city public schools, the businesses that are placed in the black communities and one of the most vivid truths was implemented several years ago during the Brown v. The Board Of Education era in an experiment done by Kenneth and Mami Clark. The Clark's doll experiment which involved a black doll and a white doll to determine the self perception of a child in reference to their race. In the experiment, they found that black children preferred to play with white dolls and referred to the white doll as pretty and good and the black doll as being ugly and bad.
(See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0BxFRu_SOw... is the perception that a child takes on when they are taught that everything that is black is bad for example: A black cat, a black bird, a black man. As we often see in the media, movies and television programs---black men robbing, stealing and killing someone or most often one another. The frightening images are that in which the child relates to, opposed to the great historical moments that many of their ancestors took part in American History/History in general. The unfortunate part is that many children nation wide have never been exposed to these great contributions, never heard anything about the people involved and don't even know of the existence of such. Even the history that involves the religious aspects of "A Man/Women Of Color" the images of Jesus and Mary had been torn down so that they would no longer reflect the image of a black person but rebuilt to portray the image of a white person. (see
http://www.interfaithmarianpilgrimages.com... or
http://blacksinthescriptures.com/black-jes... Which of course for many, color doesn't make a difference but the lie does. When there is a lie put in place of the truth one would only come to the rational reasoning of the lie being put in place for a "Particular Reason."
As history is divided, covered up, swept under the rug, hidden and replaced such handling doesn't give a child a fair chance to understand the significance of some of the greatest contributions that Black Folks have extended to society, especially because the history of these events are left out of the public school history books making it very hard for a black child to imagine his ancestors place in history. So how will the record be set straight? Will African American leaders step up to the plate and speak up for what is right? Or will we continue to sweep the issues under the rug and act as if the only history that black people have is relevant during the month of black history which will allow many black youth to continue to suffer from a lack of identity with anger, crime and hate? It's time for the truth to be told, how will you contribute?
For more information about Daniel Hale Williams log on to:
http://www.biography.com/articles/Daniel-H... For More Information about log on to:
http://inventors.about.com/library/invento... For more information on black history in general log on to:
http://www.blackhistory.com To see the Clark doll experiment in it's modern form log on to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0BxFRu_SOw For more information about the Black Modanna log on to:
http://www.interfaithmarianpilgrimages.com... For more information about Black Jesus log on to:
http://blacksinthescriptures.com/black-jes...
Posted By: Talibah Bakhit
Saturday, February 20th 2010 at 12:42PM
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