11. Únor 2004

Is Black History "X-rated?"

As a scientist, I study black history to gain insight into the history of science. I also study black history to open my mind. Black history taught me to question what I read in American textbooks and to look beyond what is in textbooks.

Unfortunately, what we call black history is limited to African-American history. Black History should be broadened beyond its original “Negro History Week” to include the black Diaspora.

Malcolm X explained that "[t]he Black man's history -- when you refer to him as a black man you go way back, when you refer to him as a Negro, you can only go as far back as the Negro goes. If you go beyond the shores of America, you can't find a Negro."

Black History has been reduced to the celebration of a few marketable heroes and contemporary figures like Martin Luther King, Tiger Woods and Oprah Winfrey.

An immense amount of black contributions to other nations has gone unacknowledged. Black history is "X-rated" for the censorship and deletions of three black popes, great writers and mathematicians, black Australians, etc.

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Posted by emeagwali at 13:06 | Comments (0)