Kinchlow: The History of Black America, Part 1

February is Black History Month. Properly defined, history is: The study of past events; the whole series of past events connected with someone or something.

History should be an accurate, truthful presentation of factual events. In other words, we expect historians to tell it like it is. That would include the good, the bad and the ugly, as long as it is what actually transpired. Anything more or less is propaganda: Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. An unbiased overview of black history should, therefore, include the accurate, truthful presentation of factual events.

I had always accepted certain truths, as reported by the “unbiased” media, as well as presentation from black leaders as being “the way it is.” However, education can present a danger to the status quo. In my case, it became the impetus for a personal revolution, causing me, from that point on, to question and then ascertain the facts of a matter.

It took years before I became aware that much of what was passed on as black history was biased or misleading. The Bible (not a religious book) says, “Study to show thyself approved, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing … truth.” That verse became the impetus for a personal journey into reality.

All my young life, I had been taught that the white man had been the slave master, responsible for enslaving the thousands of blacks who arrived on slave ships. I felt justified in my anger and resentment against “whitey” “honkies,” “crackers” and “peckerwoods.” I became a revolutionary, committed to the “black revolution” – a follower of Malcolm X.

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