Black history provides confidence and pride
Arthur Oduma
What's Your Shade?
Martin Luther King Day would have passed me by had I not stumbled upon a special edition of Oprah covering his life and work. I then realized that Black History Month would indeed go quietly unless I deliberately reflected on it and on what it meant for the African-American. Why is there a Black History Month in the first place? Why is it important for African-Americans to know their history? Carter Woodson, a Harvard-trained academic who is credited with founding Black History Month, believed that the knowledge and dissemination of African history would build self-esteem among blacks and help eliminate prejudice among whites.
It was Dr. Woodson who said, "We have a wonderful history behind us ... if you are unable to demonstrate to the world that you have this record, the world will say to you, `You are not worthy to enjoy the blessings of democracy or anything else.' They will say to you, `Who are you, anyway? Your ancestors have never controlled empires or kingdoms and most of your race have contributed little or nothing to science and philosophy and mathematics.'" Science, philosophy and mathematics? Most black leaders I knew had made big contributions to the civil rights movement. But to science?
You have probably never heard of Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) a self-taught mathematician and astronomer. While still in his youth, he made a wooden clock which kept accurate time until past the date of this death. This is believed to be the first clock wholly made in America. A man of many talents and interests, he also published a treatise on bees, studied locusts and became an advisor to President Thomas Jefferson.
Next time you eat a peanut butter sandwich, remember Dr. George Washington Carver. Born of slave parents in 1860 in Diamond, Missouri, Dr. Carver almost single-handedly revolutionized southern agriculture from his small laboratory on the campus of Tuskegee Institute. From the humble peanut, Dr. Carver discovered meal, instant and dry coffee, bleach, tar remover, wood filler, metal polish, paper, ink, shaving cream, rubbing oil, linoleum, synthetic rubber and plastics.
Dr. Percy Lavon Julian (1899-1975) did with the soybean what George Washington Carver had done with the ordinary peanut. A scientist and medical researcher, Dr. Percy Julian took the soybean and extracted from it an ingredient to relieve inflammatory arthritis. Not content to sit in his lab, he founded Julian Laboratory, Inc. in 1954. With research centers in Chicago, Mexico City and Guatemala, Dr Julian successfully developed synthetic cortisone, found a way to mass produce the drug physostigmine, which is used to treat glaucoma, and perfected the mass production of sex hormones which led the way to birth control pills.
The art of shoemaking would not be the same but for Jan Ernest Matzeliger. He enriched America and other nations by billions of dollars. With no other capital other than his meager wages, he perfected a machine for pleating leather around the toe thus revolutionizing shoemaking.
He soon formed a company, the United Shoe Machinery Company, that rapidly drove competitors out of the shoe business until a few years later it controlled 98 percent of the shoe machine business. This new invention led to a tremendous expansion in the shoe industry and contributed enormously to what is regarded as one of the distinct features of civilization, namely, the wearing of shoes.
Why do we need a Black History Month? I need not go any further. In his book, "A History of Blacks in Canada," James Walker notes that "the study of black history can give blacks a sense of the positive achievements of their people and provide self-confidence and self-pride which are essential to any program of assertiveness."
"What's Your Shade?" is the Multicultural Students Programs and Services column. Contact MSPS at sacharya@nd.edu. "What's Your Shade?" appears every other Wednesday.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, January 30, 2002
