BLACK HISTORY MONTH:  SEEKING TRUTH

(BALTIMORE – February 10, 2023) – Simply put, history is a story, record, and interpretation of the past.  John Hendrik Clarke, the historian extraordinaire, highlights its importance in his remarks,  “The events which transpired five thousand years ago, five years ago or five minutes ago have determined what will happen five minutes from now, five years from now or five thousand years from now.  ALL HISTORY IS CURRENT EVENTS.”

He who rules has control over the historical record which includes interpretation of that record and thus, all others are forced to view the world through the eyes of the dominant class.

In America, the “Black Studies” phenomena of the late 1960s and early 1970s gained its significance from “Freedom Fighters” who no longer accepted interpretations of the dominant class and saw the need to revise the historical record to reflect an alternative view of events. This could not be accomplished without struggle as those who rule will make every effort to justify their rule and domination. Friedrich Nietzsche puts it this way, “Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.”

Carter G. Woodson, the founder of African American History Month, reveals the findings in his research and challenges the thinking of subjugated people: “If you can control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his action.  When you determine what a man shall think, you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do.  If you make a man feel he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself.  If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door.  He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”