Where Does Black History Go When It’s Erased?

When was the first time you heard about Black history being erased? Was it when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis banned the new AP Black History course until they changed the curriculum? Maybe it was when Texas tried to reclassify enslaved people as “workers” and “immigrants” in their textbooks. Perhaps it was more recently when Donald Trump’s DEI mandates resulted in exhibits being reviewed from eight Smithsonian Museums to ensure everything aligns with Trump’s vision. That review will be completed just in time to celebrate the nation’s 250th Anniversary. More than 30 objects, including Harriet Tubman’s hymnal, have already been removed from the National Museum of African American History and Culture because Trump considers them “divisive.”

The good news, if you look at it in the right light, is that most people never knew the history being disappeared in the first place. Can you miss what you never had? America, like other nations, has always taught propaganda over facts and made heroes out of men and women who were less than perfect. Most of the Founders owned slaves, as did twelve Presidents and at least 30 Supreme Court Justices. Not only did George Washington occasionally tell a lie, but he also had teeth removed from living Black men to complete his dentures. Some stories claim he paid for the teeth, but records only show payments to his dentist.

Thomas Jefferson would have made Jeffrey Epstein proud of his relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings, which began when she was fourteen years old. Historian Edwin Betts hid a letter that revealed Jefferson knew Black teen boys were routinely beaten in his nailery to improve productivity.

Edwin Betts: One of the Historians That Covered Up for Thomas Jefferson | by William Spivey | Black History Month 365 | Medium

The better news is that despite efforts to erase the inconvenient parts of Black History, it can still be discovered by those willing to put in the work, who were the only people who really knew history in the first place. The Internet is a resource for both fact and fiction. It takes a discerning eye and a great deal of research to tell the difference. I’ve found it takes reading a lot of material surrounding the same events to begin to gain perspective. The truth hasn’t gone anywhere, but is often surrounded by lies or at least wishful thinking.

Beware changes in history, especially those designed to convince you to take a particular path or to justify actions. When people use originalist thinking to make technology decisions never considered in the 1700s, they’ve probably twisted history.

Banned books should be looked at as a sign to “Come Look at Me!” What is it they don’t want you to read or know? In the case of Black History, there seems to be a fear that Black people can’t handle the truth. They will be consumed with anger and rise up. These were the same concerns that led various states to pass laws preventing slaves from learning to read and write at multiple points in history. Banning books often took place after a slave revolt in some part of the world. After the Haitian Revolution, a slave Bible was produced, removing all the passages mentioning revolt. No Moses and the Ten Commandments for you!

An alternate concern is that white people will feel bad should they have to learn, or God forbid, teach about the misgivings of their ancestors. Rather than address it, those stories may be hidden so that history may inevitably repeat itself, which may be the goal in some circles.

Black history in America (and the world) has always been shown as seen through the eyes of their oppressors. The emphasis has recently grown. How can America be made better again if sometimes it wasn’t great to begin with? The efforts to erase Black History are history in and of themselves. They likely won’t be recorded in Florida or Texas textbooks, but the Internet will remember. Juneteenth (fake holiday though it is) lasted only a couple of years as a federal holiday before Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense curtailed its celebration, along with Black History Month. To be fair, he also axed Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month.

With all the attempts to suppress and erase it. I submit that Black History is everywhere, particularly in the knowledge bases of our elders. I wish I’d thought to ask my grandparents about their lives. My maternal grandfather was a Pullman porter and traveled across the United States; my grandmother was a nurse. Together, they bought one of the first homes owned by Black people in a formerly redlined neighborhood. They lived through much of the history I write about. What I would give now to have talked to them about their experiences. Those of you with living elders, don’t miss your opportunity.

Black historians have been on the case for centuries. Buck Colbert Franklin, the father of historian John Hope Franklin, provides an eyewitness account of the Black Wall Street Massacre:

“I could see planes circling in mid-air. They grew in number and hummed, darted, and dipped low. I could hear something like hail falling upon the top of my office building. Down East Archer, I saw the old Mid-Way hotel on fire, burning from its top, and then another and another and another building began to burn from their top,” — Buck Colbert Franklin (1879–1960).

His ten-page manuscript, as of this date, is still on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Let’s hope it survives Trump’s review of the Smithsonian museums. Here’s a top-ten list of Black historians as compiled by Academic Influence.

In my regular reading, I include Dr. Allison Wiltz. Her Substack newsletter, For Black Women, is a wealth of well-documented history and current political thought. Please don’t sleep on Dr. Crystal A. deGregory, who sums up far better than I could why Black History matters.

“As a historian, I believe in the incredible power of stories and in the tremendous responsibility of storytellers to not only put pen to paper or keystrokes to computer screens but to contextualize for readers and listeners alike, “the why” associated with the who, when, where and how. Despite the exceptionalizing of extraordinary behaviors, achievements, and sacrifice, human beings are characters and agents affecting the course of the past, present, and future. Human beings are humans doing — doing things good, bad, and in between. That is precisely why “the why” matters — because that is where the understanding we seek lies. That is history’s magic — and that is why history matters and always will.” Dr Crystal A. deGregory

The efforts to remove Black History from books, schools, and American culture are harmful but will ultimately fail. As fast as they try to erase it, more sources pop up to not only reveal the past but also point out the desperation of those who would cover it up. If you aren’t a writer of Black History, try being at least a reader. It’s all part of American History after all.

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This post was previously published on The Polis.

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