Black History Month and Lesser Known African-Americans

Black History Month and Lesser Known African-Americans The term little known black Americans can refer to all the people who have made contributions to America and to civilization, but whose names are not as well-known as many others or not known at all. For instance, we hear about Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, and many other famous Black Americans, but what have you heard about Edward Bouchet, or Bessie Coleman, or Matthew Alexander Henson? Black Americans have been making contributions to America from the start, but like countless other Americans whose achievements have altered and enriched our lives, these Black Americans remain unknown. Its important, though, to point out their contributions because too often people dont realize that Black Americans have been making contributions to our country from its inception. In many cases, what they accomplished they managed to do against all odds, in spite of overwhelming obstacles. These people are an inspiration to everyone who finds him or herself in circumstances that seem impossible to overcome. Early Contributions In 1607, English settlers arrived in what would later become Virginia and founded a settlement they named Jamestown. In 1619, a Dutch ship arrived in Jamestown and traded its cargo of slaves for food. Many of these slaves later were freemen with their own land, contributing to the success of the colony. We do know some of their names, like Anthony Johnson, and its a pretty interesting story. But Africans were involved in more than settling Jamestown. Some were part of the early explorations of the New World. For example, Estevanico, a slave from Morocco, was part of a group who had been asked by the Mexican Viceroy in 1536 to go on an expedition into the territories that are now Arizona and New Mexico. He went ahead of the groups leader and was the first non-native to set foot in those lands. While most Blacks originally arrived in America primarily as slaves, many were free by the time the Revolutionary War was fought. One of these was Crispus Attucks, the son of a slave. Most of them, though, like so many who fought in that war, remain relatively nameless to us. But anyone who thinks that it was only the white man who chose to fight for the principle of individual freedom might want to take a look at the Forgotten Patriots Project from the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). They have documented the names of thousands of African-Americans, Native Americans, and those of mixed heritage who fought against the British for freedom. Not-So-Famous Black Americans You Should Know George Washington Carver (1864-1943)Carver is a well-known African-American. Who isnt aware of his work with peanuts? Hes on this list, though, because of one of his contributions that we dont often hear about: The Tuskegee Institute Movable School. Carver established this school to introduce modern agricultural techniques and tools to farmers in Alabama. Movable schools are now used around the world.Edward Bouchet (1852-1918)Bouchet was the son of a former slave who had moved to New Haven, Connecticut. Only three schools there accepted Black students at the time, so Bouchets educational opportunities were limited. However, he managed to get admitted to Yale and became the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. and the 6th American of any race to earn one in physics. Although segregation prevented him from attaining the kind of position he should have been able to get with his outstanding credentials (6th in his graduating class), he taught for 26 years at the Institute for Colored Y outh, serving as an inspiration to generations of young African-Americans. Jean Baptiste Point du Sable (1745?-1818)DuSable was a Black man from Haiti is who is credited with founding Chicago. His father was a Frenchman in Haiti and his mother was an African slave. Its not clear how he arrived in New Orleans from Haiti, but once he did, he traveled from there to what is now modern-day Peoria, Illinois. Although he was not the first to pass through the area, he was the first to establish a permanent settlement, where he lived for at least twenty years. He set up a trading post on the Chicago River, where it meets Lake Michigan, and became a wealthy man with a reputation as a man of good character and sound business acumen.Matthew Alexander Henson (1866-1955)Henson was the son of free-born tenant farmers, but his early life was difficult. He started his life as an explorer at the age of eleven when he ran away from an abusive home. In 1891, Henson went with Robert Peary on the first of several trips to Greenland. Peary was determined to find the geographic No rth Pole. In 1909, Peary and Henson went on what was to be their final trip, the one on which they reached the North Pole. Henson was actually the first to set foot on the North Pole, but when the two returned home, it was Peary who received all the credit. Because he was Black, Henson was virtually ignored. Bessie Coleman (1892 -1926)Bessie Coleman was one of 13 children born to a Native American father and an African-American mother. They lived in Texas and faced the kinds of difficulties many Black Americans faced at the time, including segregation and disenfranchisement. Bessie worked hard in her childhood, picking cotton and helping her mother with the laundry she took in. But Bessie didnt let any of it stop her. She educated herself and managed to graduate from high school. After seeing some newsreels on aviation, Bessie became interested in becoming a pilot, but no U.S flight schools would accept her because she was Black and because she was female. Undeterred, she saved enough money to go to France where she heard women could be pilots. In 1921, she became the first Black woman in the world to earn a pilots license.Lewis Latimer (1848-1928)Latimer was the son of runaway slaves who had settled in Chelsea, Massachusetts. After serving in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, Latimer got a job as an office boy in a patent office. Because of his ability to draw, he became a draftsman, eventually getting promoted to be the head draftsman. Although he has a large number of inventions to his name, including a safety elevator, perhaps his greatest achievement is his work on the electric light bulb. We can thank him for the success of Edisons lightbulb, which originally had a lifespan of just a few days. It was Latimer who found a way to create a filament system that prevented the carbon in the filament from breaking, thereby extending the life of the lightbulb. Thanks to Latimer, lightbulbs became cheaper and more efficient, which made it possible for them to be installed in homes and on the ​streets. Latimer was the only Black American on Edisons elite team of inventors. What we  love about the biographies of these six people is that not only did they have exceptional talent, but they did not allow the circumstances of their birth to determine who they were or what they could accomplish. That is certainly a lesson for all of us.

Resources for Teaching Tolerance and Anti-Racism

Resources for Teaching Tolerance and Anti-Racism    People are not born racist. As former U.S. President Barack Obama, quoting Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, tweeted shortly after the tragic events in Charlottesville August 12, 2017 in which the university town was overtaken by white supremacists and hate groups, resulting in the killing  of a counter protester, Heather Heyer,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.† Very young children do not naturally choose friends based on the color of their skin. In a  video created by the BBC children’s network CBeebies, Everyones Welcome,  pairs of children explain the differences between themselves without referring to the color of their skin or ethnicity, even though those differences exist. As Nick Arnold writes in What Adults Can Learn About Discrimination From Kids, according to Sally Palmer, Ph.D., lecturer in the Department of Human Psychology and Human Development at University College London, it is not that they dont notice the color of their skin, it is that the color of their skin is not what is important to them. Racism is Learned Racism is learned behavior. A 2012 study by Harvard University researchers showed that children as young as three years of age  can adopt racist behavior when exposed to it, even though they may not understand â€Å"why.†Ã‚  According to renowned social psychologist Mazarin Banaji, Ph.D., children are quick to pick up on racist and prejudicial cues from adults and their environment. When  white children were shown faces of different skin colors with ambiguous facial expressions, they showed a pro-white bias. This was determined by the fact that they ascribed a happy face to a perceived white skin color and an angry face to a face that they perceived to be black or brown. In the study, black children who were tested showed no color-bias. Banaji maintains that racial bias can be unlearned, though, when children are in situations where they are exposed to diversity and they witness and are part of positive interactions between different groups of people acting as equals.   Racism is learned by the example of one’s parents, caregivers, and other influential adults, through personal experience, and through the systems of our society that promulgate it, both explicitly  and implicitly. These implicit biases permeate not only our individual decisions but also our societal structure. The New York Times has created a series of informative videos explaining implicit biases.   There are Different Types of Racism According to social science, there are seven main forms of racism: representational, ideological, discursive, interactional, institutional, structural, and systemic. Racism can be defined in other ways as well - reverse racism, subtle racism, internalized racism, colorism. In 1968, the day after Martin Luther King was shot, the anti-racism expert and former third-grade teacher,  Jane Elliott, devised a now-famous but then-controversial experiment for her all-white third-grade class in Iowa to teach the children about racism, in which she separated them by eye color into blue and brown, and showed extreme favoritism toward the group with blue eyes. She has conducted this experiment repeatedly for different groups since then, including the audience for an Oprah Winfrey show in 1992, known as  The Anti-Racism Experiment That Transformed an Oprah Show. People in the audience were separated by eye color; those with blue eyes were discriminated against while those with brown eyes were treated favorably.  The reactions of the audience were illuminating,  showing  how quickly some people came to identify with their eye color group  and behave prejudicially,  and what it felt like to be the ones who were being treated unfairly.   Microaggressions are another expression of racism. As explained in Racial Microagressions in Everyday Life, Racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color. An example of microaggression falls under assumption of criminal status and includes someone crossing to the other side of the street to avoid a person of color. This list of microagressions serves as a tool to  recognize them and the messages they send.   Unlearning Racism Racism in the extreme is manifested by groups such as the KKK and other white supremacist groups. Christoper Picciolini is the founder of the group Life After Hate.  Picciolini is a former member of a hate group, as are all the members of Life After Hate. On Face the Nation  in  Aug. 2017, Picciolini said that the people who are radicalized and join hate groups are not motivated by ideology but rather a search for identity, community, and purpose. He stated that if theres a brokenness underneath that person they tend to search for those in really negative pathways. As this group proves, even extreme racism can be unlearned, and the mission of this organization is to help counter violent extremism and to help those participating in hate groups  find pathways out of them. Congressman  John Lewis,  a prominent Civil Rights leader, said, The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society. But as experience shows us, and leaders  remind us, what people learn, they can also unlearn, including racism. While racial progress is real, so is racism. The need for anti-racist education is also real.   Following are some anti-racism resources that may be of interest to educators, parents, caregivers, church groups, and  individuals for use in schools, churches, businesses, organizations, and for  self-assessment and awareness. Anti-Racism Curricula, Organizations,  and Projects The Race Card Project  :  The Race Card Project was created in 2010 by NPR Journalist Michele Norris to foster a conversation about race. In order to promote an exchange of ideas and perceptions from people of different backgrounds, races, and ethnicities  Norris asks people to distill their thoughts, experiences, and observations  about race into one sentence that only has six words and submit them to the Race Card wall. In 2014, The Race Card Project was awarded a prestigious George Foster  Peabody Award for excellence in electronic communications for turning a pejorative phrase into a productive and far-reaching dialogue on a difficult topic.RACE: Are We so Different?:  This website is a project of the American Anthropological Association and is funded by the Ford Foundation and the National Science Foundation. It looks at race through three different lenses: history, human variation, and lived experience. It offers activities for students and resources for families, t eachers, and researchers. It is based on a traveling exhibit by the same name. Educating for Equity:   Educating for Equity is  the website and consulting business of Ali Michael, Ph.D., who is the co-founder and director of The Race Institute for K-12 Educators  and the author of several books having to do with race, including  Raising Race Questions: Whiteness, Inquiry, and Education (Teachers College Press, 2015), which won the 2017 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. The Race Institute for K-12 Educators is a workshop for educators to help them develop a positive racial identity so that they can support the positive racial identity development of their students.  A comprehensive list of  Anti-Racism Resources for Teachers  is included on this website.   The Storytelling Project Curriculum:  Learning About Race and Racism Through Storytelling and the Arts  (this  Columbia University form  enables free use of the curriculum and requests feedback to the creators):  The Storytelling Project Curriculum, created th rough Barnard College, analyzes race and racism in the United States through storytelling and the arts. Using four different story types - stock stories (those told by the dominant group); concealed stories (told by people in the margins); resistance stories (told by people who have resisted racism); counter stories (deliberately constructed to challenge the stock stories) - to make the information more accessible to students, to connect the political and the personal, and to inspire change. For middle and high school students. Anti-Racism Activity: ‘The  Sneetches’  :  Through Teaching Tolerance, this curriculum for grades K-5 uses Dr. Seusss book,  The Sneetches as a springboard for discussion about discrimination and how students can  take responsibility for their environment.  What are Microaggressions and Why Should We Care?:  A course developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association on learning to recognize and deal with microaggressions in daily life.    Resources and Further Reading How Teachers Learn to Discuss Racism, The Atlantic,  https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/01/how-teachers-learn-to-discuss-racism/512474/  Can Science Help People Unlearn Their Unconscious Biases?, Smithsonian Magazine,  smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/can-science-help-people-unlearn-their-unconscious-biases-180955789/Can You Unlearn Racism By Re-training Your Brain?, Bustle,  https://www.bustle.com/articles/184790-can-you-unlearn-racism-by-re-training-your-brainHow Do We Unlearn Racism? Complex Life,  complex.com/life/2016/11/how-do-we-unlearn-racism5 key anti-racism resources for teachers, courtesy of #CharlottesvilleCurriculum , Chalkbeat,  https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2017/08/14/5-key-anti-racism-resources-for-teachers-courtesy-of-charlottesvillecurriculum/Racism in America: It’s so pervasive that white people pay less for car insurance, Salon,  salon.com/2017/04/07/racism-in-america-its-so-pervasive-that-white-people-pay-less-for-car-in surance_partner/ Racial Progress Is Real. But So Is Racist Progress., New York Times,  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/opinion/sunday/racial-progress-is-real-but-so-is-racist-progress.html?mcubz0White Anti-Racism: Living the Legacy,  Teaching Tolerance,  https://www.tolerance.org/professional-development/white-antiracism-living-the-legacy