Four hundred years of African American history - call to historical action
https://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/columnists/hannibal-b-johnson-years-of-african-american-history-cannot-be/article_85daa3f5-3ec0-533c-8d81-93e9f691798a.html
An editorial published in Tulsa World- by Hannibal B. Johnson
Hannibal B. Johnson: 400 years of African American history cannot be unlived, but it should be chronicled
The commission’s work includes planning, developing and implementing a series of programs and activities throughout 2019 to tell the full story of African Americans over the last 400 years, adding context and nuance to an American history curriculum too often short on both.
As part of its work, the commission will establish a clearinghouse for commemorative events; collaborate with initiatives that support its work; utilize information-sharing networks to push forward information about the commemoration; and award grants for suitable projects and initiatives.
This work reminds me of my ongoing efforts with the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, www.tulsa2021.org.
An editorial published in Tulsa World- by Hannibal B. Johnson
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| 400-years of African American history. As Maya Angelou said: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived; but, if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” |
"We have evolved, but our evolution is incomplete."
I am honored to serve on the 15-member 400 Years of African American History Commission. This national body will develop and carry out activities throughout the United States to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of 20 enslaved Africans in the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia, in 1619. Thus began American chattel slavery.
The legacy of that peculiar and odious institution still plagues us. We will never understand the history of our nation until we acknowledge and examine the centrality of the slave trade to colonial and early American society.
At a time when racial tumult dominated the airwaves and the Civil Rights Movement captured headlines, James Baldwin remarked: “To be black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.” Baldwin’s provocative prose highlighted the wide gap between the ideals and aspirations of American citizenship and the realities of the black experience.
We have evolved, but our evolution is incomplete.
I am honored to serve on the 15-member 400 Years of African American History Commission. This national body will develop and carry out activities throughout the United States to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of 20 enslaved Africans in the English colonies at Point Comfort, Virginia, in 1619. Thus began American chattel slavery.
The legacy of that peculiar and odious institution still plagues us. We will never understand the history of our nation until we acknowledge and examine the centrality of the slave trade to colonial and early American society.
At a time when racial tumult dominated the airwaves and the Civil Rights Movement captured headlines, James Baldwin remarked: “To be black and conscious in America is to be in a constant state of rage.” Baldwin’s provocative prose highlighted the wide gap between the ideals and aspirations of American citizenship and the realities of the black experience.
We have evolved, but our evolution is incomplete.
The commission aims to recognize the courage, steadfastness and resilience of African Americans from that seminal moment in 1619 forward, while simultaneously highlighting the myriad contributions of African Americans to American society.
From enduring slavery to fighting in the Civil War to working against the oppressive Jim Crow laws to prolonged civil rights struggles, the rich history of African Americans in the United States and their prodigious gifts to the nation began hundreds of years ago and extend to the present.
The robust narrative the commission will draw upon includes both troubling and triumphant times.
Those troubling times include the “nadir of race relations in America,” i.e., the end of Reconstruction in 1877 through the early part of the 20th century; lynchings, a variant of domestic terrorism, including the infamous 1911 lynching of Laura Nelson and her son, L.W., in Okemah; the 1919 “Red Summer” riots; and the (tragic) 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.
The triumphant times include the proliferation of all-black towns in Oklahoma; the emergence of “Black Wall Street”; the Harlem Renaissance, an intellectual, social, and artistic explosion in the 1920s; and the galvanization of black masses and allies into a powerful and effective Civil Rights Movement (!) that arguably continues today.
From enduring slavery to fighting in the Civil War to working against the oppressive Jim Crow laws to prolonged civil rights struggles, the rich history of African Americans in the United States and their prodigious gifts to the nation began hundreds of years ago and extend to the present.
The robust narrative the commission will draw upon includes both troubling and triumphant times.
Those troubling times include the “nadir of race relations in America,” i.e., the end of Reconstruction in 1877 through the early part of the 20th century; lynchings, a variant of domestic terrorism, including the infamous 1911 lynching of Laura Nelson and her son, L.W., in Okemah; the 1919 “Red Summer” riots; and the (tragic) 1921 Tulsa Race Riot.
The triumphant times include the proliferation of all-black towns in Oklahoma; the emergence of “Black Wall Street”; the Harlem Renaissance, an intellectual, social, and artistic explosion in the 1920s; and the galvanization of black masses and allies into a powerful and effective Civil Rights Movement (!) that arguably continues today.
The commission’s work includes planning, developing and implementing a series of programs and activities throughout 2019 to tell the full story of African Americans over the last 400 years, adding context and nuance to an American history curriculum too often short on both.
As part of its work, the commission will establish a clearinghouse for commemorative events; collaborate with initiatives that support its work; utilize information-sharing networks to push forward information about the commemoration; and award grants for suitable projects and initiatives.
This work reminds me of my ongoing efforts with the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, www.tulsa2021.org.
In fact, that body leverages the rich history of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, in ways that tell the story of Tulsa’s African American community and promotes the entrepreneurial and community spirits that defined the Greenwood District's pioneers.
Central to both undertakings is crafting an inclusive, honest rendition of American history that pulls in and integrates heretofore marginalized narratives. African American history is part and parcel of American history. One can neither understand nor appreciate the latter without sufficient grounding in the former.
We each have a role to play in adding underrepresented voices to our historical chorus. Your investment in the process — be it through time, talent or treasure — is essential to our success.
Read about the contributions of persons of African descent to our shared American adventure. Volunteer with an organization whose mission work centers on diversity and inclusion, civil rights advocacy or education reform.
Central to both undertakings is crafting an inclusive, honest rendition of American history that pulls in and integrates heretofore marginalized narratives. African American history is part and parcel of American history. One can neither understand nor appreciate the latter without sufficient grounding in the former.
We each have a role to play in adding underrepresented voices to our historical chorus. Your investment in the process — be it through time, talent or treasure — is essential to our success.
Read about the contributions of persons of African descent to our shared American adventure. Volunteer with an organization whose mission work centers on diversity and inclusion, civil rights advocacy or education reform.
Contribute to causes that help heal our history and narrow racial disparities.
As Maya Angelou so cogently noted: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived; but, if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
As Maya Angelou so cogently noted: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived; but, if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
Let us mark 400 years of African American history with a view toward leveraging the triumphs and avoiding a repetition of the tragedies.
Hannibal B. Johnson is a Harvard-educated attorney, author, consultant and college professor.
Hannibal B. Johnson is a Harvard-educated attorney, author, consultant and college professor.
Labels: Civil Rights Movement, Hannibal B. Johnson, Maya Angelou, Race Massacre Centennial Commission, Tulsa World
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