Throughout school, I was taught the same Black History year after year. Slavery. Chains. Boats. Plantations. Slave owners. Separation. I watched the same movies, gazed in horror at the same pictures from the same history books.
Teachers made sure to emphasize the few “good” slave owners and mistresses. You know, the ones who taught their slaves to read. See? Slavery wasn’t too bad. After all, there were tons of good slave owners. Some even taught their slaves to read. Some people believe I should just "get over it." After all, slavery is over and "you're not a slave."
True, I'm not a slave. I’m a writer. I appreciate stories with a good beginning, middle and end. And as can be expected, I was and still am highly dissatisfied with the lack of content about the African American experience. I also believe that there is still much work to be done to portray a better image of African Americans.
How are African American people like me supposed to appreciate our history when we are only shown a small portion of it, and many of our family histories are in shambles? Our stories are left in the dark, mysterious world of history, and for years we have placed our trust in history books to tell us about ourselves.
How is a little black girl supposed to have self-esteem when her facial features are criticized on her yet praised on Kylie Jenner, or when Iggy Azalea is praised for rapping when black people’s rap was considered “jungle music” when it first came out?
How is a little black boy supposed to love the skin he is in when black men are shot lifeless on the streets like dogs and the all too familiar “No Indictment” decision flashes across our news screens, telling us that justice did not win?
Some of these issues can be attributed to the incomplete history we are taught in schools. Teachers were quick to argue that my people sold each other, but did not teach about how many freed African Americans worked their fingers to the bone to buy their family members’ freedom. They did not teach that the economic and social disadvantages African Americans face today are partly due to years of unpaid labor and mistreatment.
No one talked about Northern blacks during slavery like Solomon Northup or his book, “12 Years a Slave.” No one highlighted the role of Baptist churches and colleges in training black men and women to educate other blacks in rural areas. No one spoke of black women from Oberlin College and their impact on social change. Oberlin College is in Ohio, and I’m from Ohio. Where was that fact in my Ohio history classes? Maybe I just fell asleep in class the day they taught it? I don't believe so.
See, people won’t teach you about how African Americans carried themselves with dignity and class and survived. People won’t tell you the history behind Black colleges. People won’t teach you the significance of Du Bois’ "The Talented Tenth" and his wish for black people to be educated in the liberal arts to gain leadership skills. The K-12 education system refrains from educating us about the power my people wielded in the midst of adversity. Instead, I received much of this information from a one-month sociology course in college and a Facebook page entitled “Because of Them We Can.”
A question is: Why is this information not taught?
Instead, we are constantly fed stereotypical images of black people. Black women like me are often portrayed as maids or “hired help." We win awards for playing the role well, when this “role” was a sad reality for many Southern black women, and the way in which they made a living. And when we are not maids, we are subjected to the fury and attitude of Cookie on "Empire," and are forced to watch scandal upon scandal as Olivia Pope takes her clothes off one more time for the whole country to praise on a weekday night.
And the sad part is that many people admire these shows…because they don’t know better. These characters are our only spotlight on television.
Denzel Washington, one of my favorite actors, won an Academy Award for playing a gangster in “Training Day.” Why did he not win an Academy Award for some of his other films? Perhaps America still can’t handle a black man being the best actor. Only when a black man plays a stereotype will he be awarded.
And the same goes for black women. Octavia Spencer won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as hired help, but Lord forbid a black woman win an award for portraying a beautiful princess or a leader that doesn’t have to take her clothes off like Halle Berry in “Monster’s Ball!”
Think about all the black women that spent their lives taking care of white children, that got raped by their slave owners to produce more slaves, and migrated North to make a better life for themselves. What would they think of some of these shows? What would the black men of the past think?
Here I return to my question. Why are we only taught a small portion of an already short history of African American people? Why are we constantly presented with stereotypical roles to admire on television and awards for Supporting Actors and Actresses, with the occasional Best Actor thrown in when we “play our roles well?”
Folks, this is no coincidence. Black people are still given our "place” in society as second class citizens. We may not have physical chains, but the oppression we see through the education system and through the television are by no accident.
So where do we go from here? My advice would be to educate yourself through reading and seeking out more material. No longer do I support a movie or show just because a black person has a starring role on it. Instead, I watch things with an open mind and remain in tune to issues that arise as I go.
In doing so, I discover facts that are not considered important enough for schools to discuss.
