Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

BHM 2008 Preview

It is almost the Martin Luther King holiday, and that means the unofficial start to Black History Month! Thought I'd preview a few BHM issues briefly.

First, the theme for this year's observance is "Carter G. Woodson and the Origins of Multiculturalism." From the ASALH website:

The main effort of this year’s theme is to show that the multiculturalism of today had its origins in the struggles of African Americans to have their cultural contributions recognized by American society. In breaking through the monocultural vision of America, African Americans were at the foundation of multiculturalism in America. No one played a greater role in this effort than Carter G. Woodson. With the acceptance of black people and black culture, other cultures found a way of gaining acceptance.

Some further links:

Carter G. Woodson National Historic Site: http://www.nps.gov/cawo/

Woodson's classic book, The Miseducation of the Negro, is now available in audiobook format: http://www.themiseducationofthenegro.com/

Second comes news that New Jersey is the first northern state to apologize for its part in slavery. From an AP release in Diverse Issues in Higher Education:

New Jersey became the first Northern state to apologize for slavery, as legislators approved a resolution Monday expressing “profound regret” for the state’s role in the practice. ...“This resolution does nothing more than say New Jersey is sorry about its shameful past,” said Assemblyman William Payne, a Democrat who sponsored the measure.

...[The resolution] states that in New Jersey, “the vestiges of slavery are ever before African-American citizens, from the overt racism of hate groups to the subtle racism encountered when requesting health care, transacting business, buying a home, seeking quality public education and college admission, and enduring pretextual traffic stops and other indignities.”

Now, there are many reasons why one might disagree with such a move. Some might think it is a waste of time, ordistracts from the real problems of today that need to be addressed. Others may believe that the gesture is only symbolic, or is too little too late. Some may argue that it does nothing to foster real change. They may think that such a move lets folks "off the hook," thinking any remaining debts from slavery is now paid, while others may believe that today's citizens ought not bear responsibility for the sins of citizens past in the first place. One critique in the article is from Assemblyman Richard Merkt: that the debt has already been sufficiently paid via the US Civil War. Acknowledging that slavery was bad, he nevertheless claims that "this was a sin that was atoned for in blood 150 years ago by the death of 650,000 Americans.”

Next, if you are interested in getting a different view of slavery, you might travel to Haiti to visit this interactive "living museum." From the N a Sonje Foundation website:

[T]he day has come when seeing and hearing alone are no longer sufficient to transmit historical truth (such as through traditional reading and documentation), but now more effectively through a more personally direct and dynamic means. "N a Sonje" is offering an opportunity to relive events and conditions of others, if only for a short moment, so that understanding, healing and courage might be forged on a personal level with the hope that this will lead to an eventual impact on a global scale.

The Memory Village is envisioned as a living interactive historical village where people from all over the world will have the opportunity to re-live the three main cultures of the trans-Atlantic slave trade from before the turning point of 1492 through the ensuing 500 years either by vicariously experiencing or by observing the historical re-enactment of capture, selling, shipping and enslaving African people up to the time of the revolution and the 200 years following the victory of independence in Haiti.

This story has come to the attention of the blogosphere through (so far as I can tell) this brief "news of the strange" piece, which begins: "A theme park where visitors 'play' the role of a slave could soon be a reality for guilt-ridden Europeans wanting to come to terms with their ancestors' brutality."

Now, I have very definite opinions about the whole idea of trying to teach about things like this in "experiential" ways. (See, for example, this previous SITBB blog entry.) But I do find interesting the differences between the foundation's descriptions and the news article's summary. First, the museum has been re-dubbed a "theme park"--which gets dubbed still again as an "amusement park" elsewhere (e.g., in this post). Second, it is interesting how the news article (and some subsequent commenters to blog posts) seems fixated on the impact this will have on "Europeans" (meaning Whites?) and seem to largely assume that they will choose to take on the role of slaves.

I have many, many thoughts on this issue but I'll leave it at that for now. (Do provide your own comments, however, to jump start the conversation!) Meanwhile, another blogger provides here a tongue-in-cheek (I think!) commentary on the ieda, including noting that:

No mention of the Rape Romper Room in the plans for this Haitian-based American-owned Slavery Theme Park; gawd, looks like we can't get an authentic female perspective even when we re-enact historical tragedy/genocide ...

Stay with me for a couple more slavery-related notes. This January marks the bicentennial of Congress's prohibition of the importation of slaves to the United States. In a recent NYT article, historian Eric Foner notes that this anniversary has largely gone unnoticed in this country and compares that to reactions and events in Britain last year marking their own cesation of trade in Africans:

What explains this divergence? Throughout the 1780s, the horrors of the Middle Passage were widely publicized on both sides of the Atlantic and by 1792 the British Parliament stood on the verge of banning the trade. But when war broke out with revolutionary France, the idea was shelved. Final prohibition came in 1807 and it proved a major step toward the abolition of slavery in the empire.

...In the United States, however, slavery not only survived the end of the African trade but embarked on an era of unprecedented expansion. Americans have had to look elsewhere for memories that ameliorate our racial discontents, which helps explain our recent focus on the 19th-century Underground Railroad as an example (widely commemorated and often exaggerated) of blacks and whites working together in a common cause...

Also listen to an interview with Dr. Foner here. This is part of NPR's continuing covereage of stories related to this bicentennial; also listen to "In Song: Sounds of Slavery" and "Professor Sheds Light on Harriet Jacobs' Path to Freedom."

Finally, years ago I tried my own "experiential history lesson" about US slavery here on this blog. I received mostly positive comments about it at the time, but I welcome critique, corrections, clarifications, etc as well. I know it is later in the day by the time I post this, but perhaps you might still be willing to take a little break and do my "Morning Stretch":

Spread your arms and hands out to either side of you, parallel to the ground, as in a nice early morning streatch. Ready? Start with the tip of your middle finger on your left hand: This is 1619, more than 400 years ago, when the first Africans were brought to what would later become the United States of America as slaves. (Some prefer/think more historically accurate the term "indentured servants.") Wiggle your fingers on your left hand--your pinkie...ring, middle, and index fingers and your thunb, flex your wrist a few times, bend your arm at your left elbow, and start up your left bicep. Slavery (and it is, very definitely, now slavery) is going on all this time, now well entrenched in the "new world." Now do a little windmill motion with your outstretched left arm. That good stretch you feel in your shoulder area is right around 1776, the birth of our nation. Keep your arms spread out. Keep travelling across. Now you're at your mid back, your spine, and it's about 1828. The new nation is not yet 100 years old, but it is prospering. Slavery is in full force. America has yet to go to war with itself. Keep stretching. You've crossed over and you're on your right shoulder now. It's 1861 and the American Civil War has officially begun. Just a tick farther on your right shoulder and it's 1865 and all Blacks are officially freed. Keep your arms spread out. Travel down your right arm to your right elbow. It's about 1924. Jim Crow is in full effect. Just a tick earlier before your elbow was the destruction of a Black town in Tulsa and the defeat of an anti-lynching bill in the U.S. Senate. Your arms may be tired, but I'm almost done. At your right forearm it's about 1954, and in the nation Brown vs. the Board of Education is decided, with the goal of ending school segregation "with all deliberate speed." A little further down your mid forearm on your way to your right wrist, in the same general itch-spot, is my birthday in 1964, the assassination of Malcolm X the following year, and of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. three years after that. Keep your arms spread out. Your right wrist now. That's about 1978. This year marks the case of Regents of the Univerisyt of California vs. Bakke, and "reverse discrimination" is determined to be against the law of the land. Take a quick break for a minute from your stretch and crack the knuckles of your right hand. Now get your arms back outstretched. Here, just before your fingers, is about 1991 and the nation witnesses the police-led beating of an African American man and the riots the following year as the accused police officers are acquitted. Almost done. Keep stretching. Finally you're at the tip of your right pinkie. That's today, 2005. I'm posting this blog entry and you're reading it. And your stretch is done. --Well, not quite. If you just stretch a little further, from the end of your right pinkie to the end of your right middle finger, you're at 2028. That date is important because its the estimate given by the nation's Supreme Court for when racial considerations in college admissions will no longer be needed in this country. We've got to get started today and work like the dickens to meet that goal. But it'll be worth it and it should be possible if we just put our back into it. The hard--and long--march to complete racial justice will then be achieved. Glory glory. And all in less than half the length of a middle finger.

Posted by perry032 at January 11, 2008 10:50 AM | TrackBack
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