2008 Woodie Awards
Americans know little African American history
Muhammed Banday
Issue date: 2/13/06 Section: Forum
- Page 1 of 1
I remember history classes I took in high school and junior high that scraped the surface of African American history with regard to its origins in Africa.
The classes usually started with a brief mention of Colonialist endeavors and then jumped into the slave trade. I was learning about plantations before I knew who those Africans were.
Of course we know the nature of history is ethnocentric and no matter how objective this society might claim its educational institutions are, the story is still skewed for the American masses.
Only media like Alex Haley's "Roots" and movies like "Amistad" helped people understand the myriad experiences those Africans went through. Apart from these "special events," the large portion of African American history taught always seemed disconnected from its African roots.
In the United States, very little is known about the great kingdoms that existed in Africa during and before the Christian era.
People might have heard of Mali, Chad and Songhai, but after that little is known about their political, economic and social condition.
Contrary to the myth of slavery, many of the people brought to the Americas were highly educated, even much more than their slave masters.
The great University of Sankore at Timbuktu yielded professionals from lawyers to doctors. Great evidence of scholarship can be found in thousands of manuscripts that have been and are being translated in Mali.
This knowledge of African American roots exhilarates the spirit and only entices the mind to know more about who those Africans being brought to America really were. The African American Student Union (TAASU) and the Muslim Student Association (MSA) will jointly host a lecture on "Islamic Roots in African American History" Monday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. The lecture is in 104 Royall Hall.
The speaker is a Muslim sister, master of public and Islamic education, who has roamed the world and even taught in Africa. She will enlighten students at UMKC about a subject that might seem remote to the American conscience.
mbanday@unews.com
The classes usually started with a brief mention of Colonialist endeavors and then jumped into the slave trade. I was learning about plantations before I knew who those Africans were.
Of course we know the nature of history is ethnocentric and no matter how objective this society might claim its educational institutions are, the story is still skewed for the American masses.
Only media like Alex Haley's "Roots" and movies like "Amistad" helped people understand the myriad experiences those Africans went through. Apart from these "special events," the large portion of African American history taught always seemed disconnected from its African roots.
In the United States, very little is known about the great kingdoms that existed in Africa during and before the Christian era.
People might have heard of Mali, Chad and Songhai, but after that little is known about their political, economic and social condition.
Contrary to the myth of slavery, many of the people brought to the Americas were highly educated, even much more than their slave masters.
The great University of Sankore at Timbuktu yielded professionals from lawyers to doctors. Great evidence of scholarship can be found in thousands of manuscripts that have been and are being translated in Mali.
This knowledge of African American roots exhilarates the spirit and only entices the mind to know more about who those Africans being brought to America really were. The African American Student Union (TAASU) and the Muslim Student Association (MSA) will jointly host a lecture on "Islamic Roots in African American History" Monday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. The lecture is in 104 Royall Hall.
The speaker is a Muslim sister, master of public and Islamic education, who has roamed the world and even taught in Africa. She will enlighten students at UMKC about a subject that might seem remote to the American conscience.
mbanday@unews.com
