African History (Black History)

I love the way in which we are ignorant. Everyone is ignorant, including historians. As humans we have this tendency of ignoring things, either because we do not want to hear about it, because it implicates effort or just because we never showed interest. Sometimes we are ignorant by accident, but most of the time we are ignorant because we chose to. You will think why am I discussing this when we are in the middle of what is called Black History month, and that we only “celebrate” in october in the UK (apparently the rest of the world that is concerned about it does it in february, but never mind). Well, the answer is rather simple, we ARE total ignorant in the subject of Black History.

Me, myself, I was thinking on my topic for this week and found myself wondering…what IS black history? The only thought I could get in my mind were words like slavery and Martin Luther King, maybe some bits and pieces of the Boer War… And that was about it…Me…A “potential” historian…And I thought that was just wrong. It is wrong in the first place having such a thing like black history month, or women history month…It seems rather discriminating. Just like J. Wayne explains in his article, it seems like an excuse to ignore this type of histories for the rest of the year. Nonetheless, and before I put far too much criticism on the subject, one could say that at least for one month these people are remembered.

Going back to the subject of what is black history, I am still trying to make sense of it. I have ben told, and read in several places that it primarily applies to the movement of african people around the world and its implications…Which, to an extent I guess it is reduced to Slavery (the fact that we are using movement rather than migration gives me the clue…). I think this is a sad fact. We chose to remember that African people were trade as any other sort of goods…Why do not we try to remember what existed before that? What made them a people and there for electable to have their own history month? What about their culture? Their unknown kingdoms? Their religion? What about all those Africans that were not slaves or that not ended in wars with the Europeans? Why do not we pay a bit of attention to them?

This is the reason why my topic for today is going to be a very brief comment on a couple of cultural aspects of African societies NOT RELATED to the usual thing. These are things I have just learnt for myself and that I would like to share with you so we all get an image of these ‘black’ people and their history.

In case that anyone forgot, Africa could be argued to be the cradle of civilization. The extraordinary archaeological work in this continent remind us that most likely our human origins belong there. Half of the bananas we eat, we owe them to the inhabitants of East Africa. As it happens they decided to trade and spread their new-found crop to the rest of the continent (back in the 3rd century CE) and so, new varieties of bananas were produced. These bananas helped to the agricultural development of these people; it provided them with food supplies and trade (reference: C.Ehret, The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800). Half of the music you listen is based on African music. They took it with them to America in the age of Slavery and they expressed their lament in a very poetical way: music. Thanks to this we have soul, blues and even jazz, rock and roll and heavy metal, and most likely, other sorts of pop music. It seems that music was a very important part of African life, as other sort of artistic representations (and it is still within many tribes in the continent, p. 337-344). In the words of B. Davidson:

” Carvers were famous because they were excellent. Dancers were celebrated not because they knew the steps…but because they dances them supremely well. Drummers were admired for the rhythms they could hear and play, rhythms so complex that an unskilled listener like myself cannot even recognise them.” ( The Africans: and entry to cultural history, p.161)

…And so I could carry on.

I am not trying to say that it is bad that we have such a thing like Black History month. I am not trying to say that we are bad people because we do not know their history. What I am trying to say is that maybe the reasons why we do not know such things, or why we need something like black history month are not the best ever. So maybe, we should do a bit of historical reflection and reconsider what sort of things we pay attention to and why.

“Nothing determines who we will become so much as those things we choose to ignore. ~ Sandor McNab”

…And I hope this might encourage you to learn something new today, or this month. Perhaps…Something related to Africa and Black history.

The theme for this month’s set of blogs is Black History. Black History Month (BHM), also known as African History Month (AHM), was created to promote and bring attention to black history and culture around the world. Black History month is in the month of October in the UK whilst it is in February in the US. BHM was originally founded in 1926 when Carter G Woodson, editor for thirty years of the Journal of Negro History, established African Caribbean celebrations in America. Whilst in the UK Black History Month was founded in 1987 alongside Diane Abbot’s election into Parliament as the first black female member.

In this week’s post I will be looking at Presidents Barack Obama presidency and inauguration and its place in black history. I will now give a brief overview of Barack Obama’s life. Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 and was son to a Kenyan father and mother from Kansas. Obama went on to attend law school, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Obama became politically important when he was elected into the Senate in 2004 and passed various reforms aimed on healthcare and ethnic reform. Obama secured the Democrats vote in August 2008 and became the first African American President in November 4, 2008, and was sworn in on January 20, 2009.

In this section I will have a look at the impact of Obama election on both America and the World. Firstly Obama presidency can be seen in some ways as a fulfillment of the American Dream. This is because it marks a decisive moment in the grand story of the black freedom struggle in America. In some aspects it means a greater sense of equality, as now there is an African-American is in charge of the country rather than a white man. This fact also point towards a shift in perception towards minority community and also re-asses what it means to be American. Johnny Bernard Hill comments in his book The First Black President that ‘What the election does tell us is that the way we think about race in America has forever changed.’ I find that this statement is very true as it highlights the impact that Obama’s election has had on the American people and around the question of race and equality. For me personally, despite not really understanding American politics (or any politics for that matter), Obama’s victory showed to me that anything could be changed and that the future was best faced together rather than alone.

I would finally like to discuss a part of Presidents Obama’s speech to the Democratic Convention in 2008;

“America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise – that American promise – and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.”

Upon reading part of Obama’s speech we can get a sense of change and promise for a united future. We get an idea that it’s not just Obama campaign, but an American campaign to tackle the problems of the future together whatever race or background that you are from. To finish I believe that Obama election and presidency is a major historical landmark not just for black history, but for world history. Obama’s story proves that anything can be achieved if you believe in it. I hope that you have enjoyed reading my post and that Barack Obama amazing achievements as president have inspired you to believe that anything is possible.

Sources;

Johnny Bernard Hill The First Black President (New York, 2009)

http://www.black-history-month.co.uk

http://www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk

http://news.bbc.co.uk