HIST Week 8 DQR
Also 2 peer responses of substantial historical discussion and content of a peer’s letter with at least 150 words each.
Tamara Robinson
There is a storyline behind everyone and everything; in order to value the person, place, or thing, you must understand the history behind it. In today’s society, the cry for justice is louder than ever. Every black people being murdered, lynched, and ridicule, for racial purposes have become great triggers for the nation. Many people cry out and ask when it is going to stop, while others cry out “ No justice, No peace,” but how would you understand the reason why all of these events are occurring if you didn’t know what happened before? How would you be able to appreciate the fellow black brother, sisters, and if you don’t know the story behind it? We all understand and know the story of how this nation was formed and this nation has strived and is still striving and the reason why we know is because we know the history. Therefore, African American history should not be taken out of history classes, without that precious information, how would people be able to appreciate black people and how could black people understand their own self worth.
The history of African American played a key role in shaping the face of America. From slaves to civilians, black people have suffered mentally, physically, and emotionally, tortured, they suffer from lots of trauma and abuse, they were stripped do their pride and culture, but they still survived. After the Emancipation Proclamation that was issued by President Abraham Lincoln, those who were of slaves were no longer slaves, which was great and a miracle to them, but the downside of this was that their lives were being threatened. Claiming their freedom was a struggle because they were greatly discouraged from having it. Moreover, being a free black person was hard: segregation was hard to survive, black people were treated like low class Americans that aren’t worthy of even being an American. For example, after the Plessy V Ferguson court case in 1896, the tone was set for segregation: schools were separate, but the level and quality of education was different, bathroom were provided, but the cleanliness of the stalls were different and same for water fountains, and third of all, transportation was provided but blacks or whites could not sit together and blacks had to sit in the back. Segregation was a plague on the United States that when their attempts of integration, there was a huge conflict. To illustrate, let’s talk about WW2 and the impact of segregation on the US Military. Due to this plague, it caused many units to be discovered, many soldiers dying, the unity of the military was not formed properly, which resulted in high risk of losing this war (Michael Lynch. 2015); the story of the Buffalo Soldiers was one of the common stories that heavily displayed segregation. Even after the war was won, African Americans who served in the military were not able to reap the same benefits of white Americans who served, such as the GI Bill, which lead to President Truman pass out the Executive Order 8802 which states that there should be an integration and equality within the military regardless of race, ethnicity, or religion (President Truman. 1941).
Regardless of being in the military or not, being black was still a struggle because of the injustice they had to face, but what shifted the face of the nation was when you had many black people such as Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and W.E.B. Du Bois spoke out and made a declaration on the matter. To be more specific, black people were permitted to serve and defend the nation with no problem, however, it was a problem for them to vote. This sparked up a new mentally called the “New Negro” (Holloway. 2012) which then challenged the white supremacy on what it stated in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.” Not only that, you had movements such as Black Power Movement and the Black Arts movement as a way of creating a culture and unity and in this was another way of creating a voice for black people saying that we won’t be silenced. With the unity that was formed this inspired may to start movement, protest, and one that stuck out the most was the Civil Right Movement in 1954, this set the tone and made a clear statement that equality needs to be set in place, integration needs to be set in place, and that black people will not keep silent about this any longer. The reason for knowing all this great information is for the future generation to look back and to keep in mind the thing that we, as a race, have fought for. In the 1800’s the silent message was African American slaves were “I want to be free,” in the 1900’s the message is louder, prouder, bold, yet peaceful, and what they were saying is “We want equality and be will not keep silent any longer,” but in today’s society we are screaming “No Justice, No peace; Black Lives Matter.” How can the future generations be able to continue to fight for justice and equality and not the past situation that was already achieved by the constant problem that still needs to be resolved, because we are still in a fight. In order to value the person, place, or thing, you must understand the history behind it.
In conclusion, it is important that we never forget the history of African Americans, with this information, this could inspire someone to one day end racism. If it were to be taken out, just imagine the conflict that could cause in the nation, knowing this information carries out a legacy for black people to remember what they have been brought out of and how they can keep making a difference in the nation. This can also inspire white people to end racism on their end and be the change for their families knowing they broke the curse of that hateful mindset.
Reference:
Michael Lynch Oct 2015, U. S. Army Military History Institute / Army Heritage Education Center https://www.army.mil/article/46649/Bring_on_the_Buffalo/
C. Munsey. But Not all Americans benefited equally November 2010
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/11/gi-bill
Plessy vs Ferguson 1896.
https://supreme.findlaw.com/supreme_court/landmark/plessy.html
President Truman 1941, Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941) https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=72
President Abraham Lincoln. January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation 1863
https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation
Jonathan Holloway 2010. The New Negroes
https://oyc.yale.edu/african-american-studies/afam-162/lecture-9
U.S. Declaration of Independence, (1776)
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
Response –
Jermar Holloway
Hello everyone,
My name is Jermar Holloway, and I would love to explain to everyone why Black History is American History and why it should stay in the curriculum and textbooks. America would not be America if it weren’t for our country’s sins. Instead of learning from our past and educating our children about everything our country has done, we have some people who would like to forget that these events have happened and not speak nor teach about them. America is a very beautiful and wonderful country filled with amazing people from all nationalities, ethnicities, and cultures. Still, we will be fooling ourselves if we leave some significant events since our lovely country started in 1776.
Our children must continue to learn about Black History and not just the basic history that our kids are subjected to in their school today. I understand our children in elementary school; some parents do not want to subject their children to the brutality of slavery and events after the Civil War. Still, by Junior High School, these children should know. It is ridiculous that still in 2022, some parts of this country don’t teach or allow the students to opt-out of black history because their town or city is majority white. For example, in the state of Utah, “Utah law gives parents a lot of control over what their kids learn, says Jeff Van Hulten with the state board of education. He says parents can opt-out of curricula based on religious beliefs or strongly held convictions.” There should be no reason in this country to allow parents to opt their children out of Black History when this is American History.
As a black man who grew up in Miami, Fl, I was only taught the bare minimum of Black History as for as some critical African American figures during the Civil Rights Movement and during segregation like Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks; some historic black athletes like Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali; and some things about slavery and the underground railroad. After the Civil War, so much has happened in our country that African Americans deserve their respect and need to be a staple in our history! I was never taught after the end of the Civil War once President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, that it took three years for the Union army to arrive in Galveston, Texas, on June 18, 1965, to free the rest of the enslaved people in Texas making it official on June 19, 1865. For 157 years, on June 19, we have a holiday for Black Americans called Juneteenth (Emancipation Day and Freedom Day), commemorating the freedom of the slaves in the United States but is not taught in every school or recognized everywhere in our country. We weren’t taught how Reconstruction was supposed to help former slaves establish new lives. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were considered to help African Americans adjust to becoming officially citizens of our country. Instead of seeing African Americans as equals, states and cities established laws that severely limited mobility and employment opportunities, came up with ridiculous laws to prevent blacks from voting, and came up with Jim Crow laws that segregated blacks and whites in public spaces throughout the nation for almost 100 years.
As a black man from Miami, Florida, some events in my state haven’t been recognized in the school’s black history curriculum that I think Florida should acknowledge. For instance, in the massacre of Rosewood, FL, on January 1, 1923, a white woman lied about a black man raping her when actuality, she was having an affair and didn’t want her husband to know about it. When the word came out about her lies, the KKK and a mob of white people destroyed the black community of Rosewood, murdering numerous men, women, and children. Even outside the state, like the Tulsa massacre in 1921, the Red Summer in 1919, so many unforgetful events in our country but so many trying hard to sweep it under the rug so that their kids will not know the heinous crimes white people have done. Even with the great history, Black Americans have shaped this country. Scholars like Booker T. Washington, W.E.B Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Successful businesswomen and men like Madame C.J. Walker, Warren C. Coleman, black politicians like Hiram Revels, who became the first black senator in the United States for Mississippi, P. B. S. Pinchback who served as the first black governor for the state of Louisiana for 34 days. Children do not know any of these extraordinary Black Americans because our country’s school curriculum is not teaching our children black history.
In conclusion, I want our children in this fantastic country to understand our Black History and not go away from it but add to it. Understand the sins of this country so we can continue to learn from the past and have a great future for our children. To not just show the good things white people have done in this country but show that white people have done horrific and sadistic stuff so that we will never go back to those ways and we can be better.
My name is Jermar Holloway; thank you all for reading!
Reference
Utah school re-examines allowing parents to opt out of black history month curriculum (2021). . Washington, D.C.: NPR. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/other-sources/utah-school-re-examines-allowing-parents-opt-out/docview/2488487077/se-2?accountid=8289
https://www.ajc.com/news/national/the-rosewood-massacre-how-lie-destroyed-black-town/wTcKjELkGskePsWiwutQuO/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/juneteenth-tulsa-massacre-what-isn-t-taught-classrooms-has-profound-n1231442
Response –
