Accurately telling American history is not what they really want.
With the arrival of Black History Month celebrations in February, the inevitable demand for White History Month by those who feel ignored in some way, as if every month of the year is not dedicated to white history. A request occurred at X. The truth is that a lot of white history is missing from the books and needs to be recognized by Americans of all skin colors.
The history of white people we have been taught is largely false. We were taught that George Washington had wooden teeth, but the reality is that his dentures included teeth taken from enslaved people, teeth that he owned. There was no. George Washington treated his slaves like any other slave at the time, tearing apart his family long before Donald Trump and authorizing beatings to maintain order.
Washington's will provided that if he died before his wife Martha, the enslaved people he owned (as opposed to those she held) would be freed after her death. It was stipulated that Martha eventually frees her slaves, realizing that they have a greater incentive to hasten her death and gain their freedom. she released them It wasn't out of the goodness of her heart, but out of fear for her life.
It is known that Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, most famously Sally Hemings, with whom he had a decades-long relationship as she bore him six children. Let me be clear that there is no such thing as a consensual relationship between slave and master. Though historians would never depict it that way, Thomas Jefferson repeatedly raped her. Many historians and members of the Jefferson family denied the Hemings children's lineage, even after DNA proved that to be the case. More recently, they have reluctantly admitted that some of the children may have been Thomas Jefferson's children, if not his brothers.
Abraham Lincoln is credited with the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved people. He freed only the enslaved people of the Southern states that seceded from the Union. He did this for two reasons. One was to inflict economic pain on the South, and the other was to prevent France and Britain from siding with the South against the North due to their recent aversion to slavery. In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate, Lincoln did his best to avoid being called an abolitionist. He repeatedly asserted that blacks were not socially equal to whites and were not as intelligent. Given the position of his founders, he would have sent all the slaves to Liberia or Central America and gotten rid of them.
Related: Ranking 6 U.S. Presidents You Likely Didn't Know They Were Black
There is so much white history that is intentionally unknown to most Americans that you would have to spend more than a month researching it. The Electoral College, which today gives additional powers to sparsely populated, rural states, initially protected slave states, preventing more populous states from outlawing slavery by the weight of their numbers. I can understand why you were aiming for that. We would all know the rationale for the Three-Fifths Clause and the clause in the Constitution that allowed for the abolition of the international slave trade by 1808. That prohibition had nothing to do with the abolition of slavery and was about domestic protectionism. The slave trade led to slave breeding farms, one of the most heinous acts ever committed in the world.
America spends more time denying the existence of breeding farms than educating people about them, led by large-scale slave breeding farms in Richmond, Virginia, and Maryland's Eastern Shore. On farms where the population was almost exclusively black women, they were forced to bear child after child, eventually being shipped to plantations in the South to meet their needs. Some “merciful” slave laborers offered freedom to women who had given birth to at least 15 children. Although the fathers were often dispatched from nearby farms, the owners were free to sample their products whenever they pleased.Thomas Jefferson knew the value of They may have never tilled a field or harvested a crop, but they are enslaved women.
Many of the laws that exist today originate from slavery or its aftermath. The Posse Act of 1878 prevented federal troops from operating on American soil and ensured that they would never again protect black former slaves in the South. Their presence ushered in an era of reconstruction, but their removal quickly ended reconstruction.
Even if you've heard of “Juneteenth,” you may not know its full history. Yes, it reflects the date when black people in Texas learned they were free, months after the Civil War ended. You will never know that the federal government was complicit in the delay so that one more crop of cotton could be harvested. Texas history books seem to be the right place to learn more about Texas history. Still, they would be told stories of “American exceptionalism” that suggested slavery was a labor system.
Related: In exchange for the financial justice you seek, we'll give you a day of paid vacation.
The Ocoee Massacre was the killing or burning of all black people in Ocoee, Florida after two men tried to vote in the 1920 presidential election. There was a movie about a similar mass lynching in Rosewood, Florida, but we still haven't heard much about it. During the Black Wall Street Massacre, the Oklahoma National Guard bombed Tulsa's Greenwood neighborhood. He assisted hundreds of white assailants in defending a white elevator operator who claimed (later denied) that he had been raped. The Groveland Four, Emmett Till, the list goes on and on. Let's celebrate White History Month. Because every effort is made to cover up White History Month.
By 1921, the Greenwood neighborhood had become the wealthiest black community in America. Attached is the complete documentary produced by the History Channel in 2016. It's about an hour long, so some people may be hesitant to watch it. When you see it, you'll understand what the history books haven't yet shared with you.
An accurate White History Month would tell the story of the creation of America's middle class and how black people were excluded through the denial of FHA and VA loans and government-sanctioned redlining. Discuss voter suppression since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and how it continues to this day. It would explain mass incarceration and modern-day slavery, recognized by the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and perpetuated by “voluntary” prison labor.
Related: A son's fight for his father's freedom
The White History Month envisioned on Twitter will only work if Ron DeSantis takes the reins. It would soften the unpleasant parts of history while emphasizing the accomplishments of white people. Proponents do not like that it would open the floodgates and expose hidden parts. Have a few “White History Months”, perhaps every other month, where different groups of color take turns. I'm sure Native Americans, Latinos, and Japanese Americans have something to say. Let's have an LGBTQ month just in case.
I’m all for White History Month. Advocates need to be careful what they ask for. They might get it.
this mailbox Originally appeared on Medium Edited and republished with permission of the author.Read more works by William Spivey moderate. When we dig into his words, buy the person coffee.
