Slavery was one of the most brutal practices ever undertaken in mass where one group of humans captured another group of humans and reclassified them as property to be used, sold and traded. The United States Constitution, in article 1, section 2, clause 3, line 2, originally classified slave as three fifths of a person, and slaves were considered property. History has a long arc, and some seem to be on a campaign to alter the perception of what slavery was, when it ended and who participated in the practice.
It is time for African Americans to take custody of the history of slavery in the United States just as those of Jewish descent protect the sanctity of the history of their people. African Americans, as others that descended from enslaved Africans around the world, need to turn that legacy from a point of pain to a point of pride. When it comes to a genealogical legacy, like it or not, slavery is the probable destination of the family tree for African Americans as the tap root back to Africa was severed.
Authentic History Of Slavery Under Attack
Various politicians are peddling a revisionist version of slavery, and it followers on, Jim Crow. One example of that is Michele Bachmann, Congresswoman from Minnesota, who offered a version of slavery that was rolled away by the founding fathers when in fact the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the United States. Many of the founding father owned slaves. An article titled “The Sorry Legacy of the Founders” by Ulrich Boser written January 4, 2004 and published in the U. S. News and World Reports details the history of our founding fathers and slave ownership.
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann said in a speech in Iowa that the founders of the country worked tirelessly until slavery was no more. An article titled “Anderson Cooper rips GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann over comments on slavery, diversity in the U.S.” written by Aliyah Shahid on January 25, 2011 and published in the New York Daily News goes into Bachmann’s strange rendition of history. Hers was another in a long line of attempted rewriting of the ugliest chapter of America’s existence.
African Americans Must Protect Slavery’s History
The true history of slavery is under attack, and it must be preserved as accurately as possible in order for future generations to understand the true nature of the maturation of this nation. The current state of blacks in this country has been the result of much blood, sweat and tears. Much of the blood and sweat happened during those dark days of involuntary servitude. The history of modern African Americans is anchored in this country by the slave trade. Many blacks do not like to talk about their slavery heritage because there is a void that develops when most African Americans trace their family tree back past a certain period of time.
The family tree of many black Americans disconnects when generations into the late 1800s come into play. Movement of families and sporadic recordkeeping leave many researchers at a loss and of course the practices of slavery are the reason. Families were split apart as individuals were sold and relocated. Any attachment to original African origins was long since wiped away.
National Slavery Museum In Peril
An article titled “ Land Sale Looms for Museum Site ” by Kelly Hannon December 29, 2010 and published on the Fredfricksburg.com website goes into the possible downfall of an effort to build a National Slavery Museum in Virginia. There are several Holocaust Museums around the country and a National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, but no national museum dedicated to slavery.
Slavery took place before the ability to easily capture images existed so recorded images are few. Many were buried in unmarked graves and have been reclaimed by the earth, yet they were real and ancestors of African Americans today. To allow that history to perish into the wind would be a disservice to those that suffered and died in bondage. While a legacy of slavery is not desirable or ideal, it is reality, and that reality needs to be a point of authentic history instead of a revisionist fairly tale.
