Black History Month, which originated as ‘Negro History Week’ is said to have been celebrated in the month of February because it coincides with the birthdays of two important figures in the abolitionist movement: President Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. However, many people believe that Abraham Lincoln did in fact not, support the abolitionist movement because he himself had slaves. Actually, ten of the first twelve American presidents owned slaves, the only exceptions being John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams, neither of whom approved of slavery. Yet today, we acknowledge Black History Month for former President Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Today, we are only taught a small portion of African-American history despite there being so much to cover.
While there are some schools that teach lessons on African American history, only eight or nine percent of overall class time is spent teaching it. Twelve out of fifty states actually teach African-American history, and it isn’t specified what lessons or how much of it is taught, as it varies from state to state. Some schools, including Walkersville High do have an African-American studies course, but it’s only offered in eleventh and twelfth grade. This means that students in grades ten and under are lacking certain lessons in history that are very important to the students of color in our communities.
Walkersville High School history teacher Alex Owen, has a course on African-American Studies. It’s a seven unit course that is comprised of many different events in black history, most of which don’t get to be seen in regular history classes. It is understandable as there is so much information to cover. Yet even in one course, it doesn’t feel like enough. There is so much more history to cover in only 180 school days, not counting for snow days, off days, and anything else in between. Without the ability to command the other thirty-eight states to teach African-American history, the youth of America remains uneducated and ignorant of the lifestyles, differences in beliefs, and the culture of their African-American counterparts. In an effort to remedy this situation, here are four different events from African-American history that aren’t very popular in the classroom but are important to know.
Nat Turner and his rebellion
Nat Turner was an enslaved black man who led the only effective rebellion of slaves against their white slave owners. Turner and his mother, a native African woman who transmitted a passionate hatred of slavery to her son, wer owned by a prosperous plantation owner in Virginia. He learned to read from one of his master’s sons, and he eagerly absorbed intensive religious training. After a while, his religious views led him to believe that he was called upon by God to help free his people. He began to exert a powerful influence on many of the nearby enslaved men and women, who called him “the Prophet.” In 1831, after he had been sold again—to a craftsman named Joseph Travis—a sign in the form of an eclipse of the Sun caused Turner to believe that the hour to strike was near. On the night of August 21, together with seven fellow enslaved people in whom he had put his trust, he launched a campaign of total annihilation, murdering Travis and his family in their sleep and then setting forth on a bloody march toward Jerusalem. In the end, Turner ends up being hanged for his crimes. His rebellion though, put an end to the white Southern myth that slaves were either contented with their lot or too complacent to mount an armed revolt.
Ocoee Election Day Massacre of 1920
The Ocoee Election Day Massacre of 1920 was an act of mass racial violence against African Americans after they tried to exercise their right to vote. Orange County, approximately 12 miles northwest of Orlando, had been politically dominated by conservative Democrats since the end of Reconstruction. They prided themselves on keeping Blacks, then mostly Republican, from the polls. After a number of black organizations across Florida began conducting voter registration campaigns, a prosperous Black farmer, Mose Norman, who had been part of the voter registration drive in Orange County, decided to vote in the national election on November 2. When he attempted to do so, twice, he was turned away from the polls. The second time he got turned away, he was hunted down by a white mob of over 100 men. When this mob found out that Norman had taken refuge in the home of a friend, Julius Perry, they rushed to the residence in hopes of capturing both men. Norman escaped, and Perry stayed to defend his home, killing two white men in the process. The mob called for reinforcements and eventually caught and killed Perry, injuring his wife and daughter in the process. While Perry’s wife and daughter were sent to Tampa for care, the mob of men turned on the black community of Ocoee, burning down homes and businesses while demanding that the Black residents leave Ocoee. In the face of this threatened violence, the entire African American population fled the town.
The Tulsa Greenwood Massacre
The Tulsa Greenwood Massacre; otherwise known as the Black Wall Street Massacre, was another horrific mass attack on the black residents of Tulsa Oklahoma. On the morning of May 30, 1921, a young black man named Dick Rowland was riding the elevator in the Drexel Building at Third and Main with a white woman named Sarah Page. The details of what followed are uncertain, as they vary from person to person. However, accounts of an incident circulated among the city’s white community during the day and became more exaggerated with each telling. The police arrested Rowland the following day and began an investigation. A report in the May 31 edition of the Tulsa Tribune spurred a confrontation between black and white armed mobs around the courthouse where the sheriff and his men had barricaded the top floor to protect Rowland. Shots were fired and the outnumbered African Americans began retreating to the Greenwood District. The morning after the confrontation, Greenwood was looted and burned by white rioters. Governor Robertson declared martial law, and National Guard troops arrived in Tulsa. Guardsmen assisted firemen in putting out fires, took African Americans out of the hands of vigilantes and imprisoned all black Tulsans not already interned. Twenty-four hours after the violence started, it ceased. In the wake of the riot 35 city blocks lay in charred ruins, more than 800 people were treated for injuries and contemporary reports of deaths began at 36. Historians now believe as many as 300 people may have died. The only two known living survivors of the Massacre are still fighting for justice and reparations to this day.
The Murder of Emmett Till
The tragic murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 brought nationwide attention to the racial violence and injustice prevalent, not only Mississippi, but in places all over the South. While visiting his family in Mississippi, Till went to the Bryant store with his cousins to buy candy and snacks. It is said that he may have whistled at Carolyn Bryant, the woman who was at the counter, however, that detail is still a bit iffy as Carolyn Bryant admitted in 2007 that she lied about Emmett making any advances on her. Because of Bryant’s lie, Emmett Till was brutally tortured and then murdered, his young life taken away because of racism.
Despite these events not being a secret, they still seem hidden or lost to time, left untaught and uncovered, seemingly so that history may repeat itself. There are many historical events like the Rosewood Massacre, Elizabeth Freeman winning the case for freedom, the “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” boycotts, and the violence of Freedom Summer that are not taught in school. Isn’t the purpose of teaching history, so that future generations can learn lessons from the past? There is so much history that isn’t being taught, which means there are so many lessons that are not being learned. This begs the question: Why?
