There is a famous saying (which actually has been said many different ways and by many different people), that those who do not pay attention to the mistakes in history are doomed to repeat them.
That speaks to the value of history, and black history.
When I was growing up, there was no black history month. And my studies of American History said very little about African Americans in American History, except that they were slaves, and less than a whole person in the Constitution, and that segregation was declared illegal after
Brown vs. Board of Education
.
But we know that one value of history is that we learn about role models and people we can aspire to. That black people were marginalized throughout history, and still struggle for equality, but in fact have been present throughout. A black man was present – and murdered – at the Boston Massacre. A black man played a major role in laying out the monumental city of the new nation’s capital. Black men fought with distinction during the Civil War. Many black women were active suffragettes demanding that women have the right to vote. A black man invented the traffic light. In fact, there have been many black inventors. The list of distinguished African Americans is long and varied.
And knowing something about black history gives us something to be proud about as Washingtonians. We celebrate that Frederick Douglass had deep ties to our city – he was United States Marshall for the District of Columbia during the late 1870s and then Recorder of Deeds in 1880s. In fact, Frederick Douglass remarked that – because deeds were copied by hand, and customers were charged by the word – that as Recorder of Deeds he was the most highly-compensated federal official after the President of the United States.
Another famous Washingtonian is Charles Hamilton Houston, a graduate of Dunbar High School when it was known as M Street High School, who played the critical role in the legal strategy that led to
Brown vs. Board of Education
and the dismantling of Jim Crow. Knowing these – and many more – examples of Washingtonians who were national leaders, gives our youth role models to aspire to. That is an important role of history.
The District was affected by the Civil Rights Movement in many ways. So many of our Home Rule founding fathers were from SNCC and other Civil Rights Era organizations: Marion Barry, John Wilson, Dave Clarke, Frank Smith, and more. As you know, the Civil Rights Movement was about killing Jim Crow, achieving equality, and enjoying the full measure of citizenship, including the vote.
But here we are today, struggling against forces that haven’t gone away. The Civil Rights Movement may have climaxed with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but today, in many states, mostly across the South, we have seen how the ability to vote has been made difficult. Understanding our history of race relations in this country helps us to understand what is happening now.
Black history month is not just learning about people who died years ago. Rather, it teaches us how African Americans can force change. How there is value in activism, and political participation. Activism that can throw out the voter ID laws and change policy. And close the gaps – the education gap, the income gap, and the wealth gap – that have resulted from our history of racism and intolerance.
History – real history – teaches us. It teaches us how to be better.
