Would it be beneficial for African Americans to forget slavery and the Jim Crow era? (Egyptian, England)
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That's not caused by an awareness of their history, but parodoxically by being unaware of their history.
A recognized social error in the black northern migration was that young, single blacks moved out of the South but they did not take their "cultural touchstones"--the old people, the grandmothers and such--with them. They were culturally adrift, and largely still are.
My maternal great-great-grandparents were former slaves in Mississippi, sharecroppers after the war. My great-great-grandfather worked off-season in a local sawmill and my great-great-grandmother baked pies, both working to pay off the "company store" debt (a scam that kept both black and white sharecroppers perpetually in debt) in time to take part in the 1989 Oklahoma land rush. They staked out land with a stream and built a sawmill as well as a ranch. In the early 60s, that side of my family had spread out, but the homestead anchor was still that land.
I remember around 1963 making a visit to relatives who had moved to the south side of Chicago and being struck even as a kid about how alien, unconnected, and really rather savage that life was up there. The problem was that they did not take their heritage with them.
No, I'm sorry but I have throw a flag on that comment.
They were not "culturally adrift" but they simply assimilated and formed into a new culture that was different and unfamiliar to those in the South.
No, I'm sorry but I have throw a flag on that comment.
They were not "culturally adrift" but they simply assimilated and formed into a new culture that was different and unfamiliar to those in the South.
You mean south Chicago culture? North Omaha culture? What did they assimilate into?
There were some existing black northern cultures, such as in Harlem, but those were neighborhoods with ante-bellum roots, not the new ones formed by the northern migrations. The northern migration neighborhoods largely left behind their roots to the culture that had survived slavery...and that was a worthwhile culture to have retained.
A lot of young people are amazed that the history of being black in America reads in many ways like reading the books of Exodus or Daniel or Esther in the OT. Take a book like "Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored," which is an eye opener for many young people, although it's practically my own childhood history (I can darned near name the individuals in my childhood that corresponded to those the author writes about).
It is interesting, though, that a lot of X and Y generation blacks are moving back to the south to reclaim those roots.
Last edited by Ralph_Kirk; 08-07-2014 at 12:23 PM..
An alternative to the OP's question is "what benefit does remembering slavery and Jim Crow provide"? Generally, the purpose of remembering historical events (aside from inherent enjoyment of studying it) is to prevent bad things from happening again. In this case, is there a realistic threat of anyone becoming enslaved or institutionally oppressed again? Probably not.
Since there are no former slaves living, the only thing dwelling on slavery accomplishes is generating resentment. I suppose it can also be used as a tool to guilt whites into going along with certain political initiatives. Jim Crow is different as there are people living that did experience it; interestingly, they do not seem to be the ones that talk about it the most.
An alternative to the OP's question is "what benefit does remembering slavery and Jim Crow provide"? Generally, the purpose of remembering historical events (aside from inherent enjoyment of studying it) is to prevent bad things from happening again. In this case, is there a realistic threat of anyone becoming enslaved or institutionally oppressed again? Probably not.
Since there are no former slaves living, the only thing dwelling on slavery accomplishes is generating resentment. I suppose it can also be used as a tool to guilt whites into going along with certain political initiatives. Jim Crow is different as there are people living that did experience it; interestingly, they do not seem to be the ones that talk about it the most.
That's rather like telling a Jew to stop commemorating Passover.
Jim Crowe, Profiling, Red Lining, Driving While Black, Travon Martin Killing, etc, etc, etc... C'mon son. For those who know the basics about finance can understand the lost opportunity to build generational wealth lots to Blacks.
That being as Blacks were held back some did benefit. Consider the effects of history from a generational perspective. Sure people of today had nothing to do with the past but from a generational perspective many have and do have advantages allowed by society.
Look at US politics. One saving grace is even with history being as it was as usual there are more good people than bad. That's why things seem to get better. I guess another reason things seem to get better is generations die off and the new generation trys to do better.
The difference is our history only goes back to slavery. Also as you mention and is often mentioned, there were african people selling other africans into slavery. So at the end of the day our history only amounts to a lot of suffering, and no profit. A lot of suffering, and no one to blame. That's really nothing to talk about, and I get depressed thinking about it. In this case, it's just a history not worth mentioning. We have it recorded, and that's good enough. (Though I doubt this history would be repeated. It would take a whole scale breakdown of US society to repeat this history)
No. OUR HISTORY covers all of mankind's history, not just the years since the first European explorers landed on the North American continent. And what about the glorious history of the Ancient Egyptians on the tip of North Africa? And those Africans used slave labour to build their magnificent temples and pyramids.
And by studying ALL mankind's history, blacks can see that their race was not solely picked upon. And it wasn't because of the colour of their skin, but rather because back then, their African civilization was primitive and not on par with the Europeans. Those tribal Africans could have been white, but since their civilization level was at a Stone Age level, they got taken advantage of, just like the natives in the Americas and in Australia.
And the lesson that should really be learned is to learn and absorb the knowledge of the dominant culture as quickly as possible. And that is what happened in India, the British colonized the country and eventually, the native Indians studied hard and became engineers, and then they didn't need the Brits anymore. I had a British friend who grew up in India. His family had to return to England when his dad fell ill. My friend missed India and while in England, studied to be an engineer in hopes that he could return to India and work there. However, he told me that sadly, by the time he got his degrees, India no longer needed British engineers because they had their own.
African Americans need to encourage their children to study hard and become doctors and engineers. It's the only way for them to succeed in the world. And with seven billion people on this people, the competition for success has gotten very intense. No one has time to pity other groups or be guilted into making reparations. The more African American stay in the attitude of feeling sorry for themselves, the farther their culture is being left behind.
And why is it with all the American aid groups going over to West Africa, I see no African Americans helping out? So far, I see only lily-white Americans in the news photos.
No. OUR HISTORY covers all of mankind's history, not just the years since the first European explorers landed on the North American continent. And what about the glorious history of the Ancient Egyptians on the tip of North Africa? And those Africans used slave labour to build their magnificent temples and pyramids.
And by studying ALL mankind's history, blacks can see that their race was not solely picked upon. And it wasn't because of the colour of their skin, but rather because back then, their African civilization was primitive and not on par with the Europeans. Those tribal Africans could have been white, but since their civilization level was at a Stone Age level, they got taken advantage of, just like the natives in the Americas and in Australia.
And the lesson that should really be learned is to learn and absorb the knowledge of the dominant culture as quickly as possible. And that is what happened in India, the British colonized the country and eventually, the native Indians studied hard and became engineers, and then they didn't need the Brits anymore. I had a British friend who grew up in India. His family had to return to England when his dad fell ill. My friend missed India and while in England, studied to be an engineer in hopes that he could return to India and work there. However, he told me that sadly, by the time he got his degrees, India no longer needed British engineers because they had their own.
African Americans need to encourage their children to study hard and become doctors and engineers. It's the only way for them to succeed in the world. And with seven billion people on this people, the competition for success has gotten very intense. No one has time to pity other groups or be guilted into making reparations. The more African American stay in the attitude of feeling sorry for themselves, the farther their culture is being left behind.
And why is it with all the American aid groups going over to West Africa, I see no African Americans helping out? So far, I see only lily-white Americans in the news photos.
I notice lotsa people just do not get this little factoid. No one reads real books about what occurred prior to their existence?
It's always amusing how people want to really ride the slavery thing and just gloss over Jim Crow, like most of us don't have relatives who lived through it who are alive today.
I'll listen to this argument when people start demanding Jews forget the Holocaust (which, for the record, was over before Jim Crow was officially through).
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