An Anti-Racism Curriculum

History doesn’t just teach us, it clears a path.-Stephen A. Smith

So America finally apologized for slavery. The media reported the House of Representatives issued an apology for an act that in my thinking has been the “Achilles Heel” of American social history. (You can find the apology at:www.tracesofthetrade.org).

The news report of what surely should have been an important milestone in our history, barely registered a blip on the radar screen of the electronic media. This is because America has found it difficult to deal with a painful, embarrassing era in this country. As professor Joe Feagin wrote:

“The American slave past is that ghost which we have
not entirely faced, the memory of that institution is a
haunted house we fear to inhabit.”

Perhaps, that is why the news media did not make a big deal out of the apology. America is afraid of that haunted house called slavery. Slavery exposes our nation’s hypocrisy. It demythologizes that democratic cornerstone: “all men are created equal.”

Even so, an apology for slavery is not enough to confront and overthrow the demons unleashed by this horrendous “business arrangement,” constructed by our forefathers to develop American capitalism.

The reason Black America gets so upset over this subject, is because slavery is often trivialized—it’s often treated as a side order on the menu of our nation’s history by mainstream America.

I believe in order to move toward racial reconciliation in this area, we need to educate ourselves to face the unpleasant past of slavery in order to move America from guilt to grief to glory.

For America to do this, Americans must take the initiative to educate themselves about the history of racism and slavery. Most people in our nation know as much about slavery as Paris Hilton knows about being president of the United States.
Due to widespread ignorance about this subject, I have developed what I call: Anti-Racism Curriculum.

This curriculum includes DVD's and books—giving those who want to learn – a starting point to deal with history -- most people in our nation want to forget and forgive too easily.

Here are just a few recommendations:
Traces of the Trade: A Story of the Deep North (DVD). Featured this year on the PBS program, POV, Traces of the Trade is the riveting and disturbing story of a New England family's discovery of their patriarch James Dewolf as head the largest slave trading family in U.S. history. One great line spoken by a family member during a dinner table discussion was this: “white people (when dealing with the issue of the slave trade) must move from guilt to grief.” This documentary will help African-Americans understand why white Americans find slavery a subject difficult to deal with.

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, Harriet A. Washington. Winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for the best in non-fiction, this is a book that chronicles the awful use of Black slaves as medical guinea pigs. Often operated upon without anesthesia, The New York Times calls Washington’s book: “A book of outrage.” Medical Apartheid helps us come to the sobering reality that slavery was evil beyond our wildest imagination.

In The Matter of Color: Race and The American Legal Process1: The Colonial Period, A. Leon Higginbotham. The late Judge Higginbotham was a federal appeals court judge and receipt ant of the presidential Medal of freedom. Do you wonder why many minorities often complain about the unfairness of the U.S. justice system? It is because the foundation of juridical bigotry was laid during the era of slavery .A must read for anyone connected with the American justice system.

Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression, Joe Feagin. This is one white guy you won’t see on Fox news or CNN when race is discussed. Dr. Feagin is the leading anti-racism activist in this nation. Author of over fifty books on this subject, Dr. Feagin demythologizes the so called heroism of “Founding Father’s.” Dr. Feagin has a website that addresses race in the media called:Racismreview.com

Oxford African American Studies Center (www.oxfordaasc.com). For a small annual fee, you have access to in my opinion-- to the most comprehensive contemporary and historical study of the black experience from Africa to America and beyond. Developed by Dr. Henry Louis Gates and other scholars, the Oxford AASC is like having a research library at home. The database on the Transatlantic slave trade is powerful.

From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, John Hope Franklin.
This is the classic book on the history of black people in America. Before there was Dr. Henry Louis Gates, there was John Hope Franklin. No one Has done a greater job in telling the tragic, yet rich history of African Americans, then Dr.Franklin.

Other Recommendations: Roots (DVD), the 25th anniversary edition; Unforgiveable Blackness- The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, by Ken Burns; and White Like Me, Tim Wise.

This is just a few items for your consideration. Slavery is a subject that can no longer be trivialized. Americans must be able to speak intelligently about this subject.

The only way to do so is to gain knowledge by research and study.
I believe Francis Beacon said it best, when he said:” knowledge is power.”