Normalize Black History: 5 Extraordinary Black People in History
“Growing up in the U.S., I was always taught Black history through a distorted white saviour lens. It came in small fragments, and always in the context of pain and trauma. The history I learned always highlighted what Black People didn’t have, instead of revealing what they have contributed.” —Marissa and Toya (@allegedlymari and @thereadingchemist).
The initial uproar surrounding George Floyd’s murder is dying down; Breonna Taylor’s name is no longer trending (and her murderers haven’t been arrested); the rioting has stopped so the news is no longer covering protests, and your Instagram feed is back to “normal”. So what happens now?
This is Where the Real Work Happens
For about a week my Instagram newsfeed was packed with stacks of books on anti-racism and critical race theory. Have you read them all yet? I’m going to guess no. And nor do I expect anyone to. Pick two, maybe three books from any of the stacks or lists offered, read them, reflect on them, discuss them, and then read something else. As someone who has been reading books on racism for far longer than just this past month, those books are heavy. It’s emotionally draining on anyone to read a whole bunch of them back-to-back.
And my other warning is, don’t let the only books you read about Black people be about how Black people have been victims of racism. Because that’s not helpful either.
Yes, racism is still very much alive and well and is a disease that we all have to keep working to destroy worldwide. But if you only think of Black people in terms of our oppression and our pain, then that leads to a whole other category of problems that often results in white savourism and virtue signalling.
Normalize Black History
On July 3rd, my Instagram feed blew up with the #NormalizeBlackHistory campaign created by the above mentioned Marissa and Toya. A week earlier, both Bookstagrammers put out a call to “flood Instagram with images of Black people thriving, loving, and living.”
I enjoyed scrolling through this hashtag too much not to share. But I did notice something interesting: I noticed that the majority of Bookstagrammers who participated in this challenge were white. This isn’t a bad thing and I’m glad that white Bookstagrammers are invested in amplifying stories of Black people being successful. But the reason I don’t think many Black Bookstagrammers participated is because normalizing Black history is not a special event for us; it’s our whole feed.
Last February, I posted a list of 10 underrated books to read for Black history month, highlighting many overlooked Black people in history. And I and many of the Black Bookstagrammers I follow celebrate Black history way beyond whichever month our country of residence has set aside for it. So I advise following any of the Bookstagrammers on this list of Black Bookstagrammers from Read It Forward or this list from Buzzfeed if you are honestly seeking to diversify your feed.
However, I do still love this incentive to normalize Black history and below you will find five of my favourites, the books to read to learn more about them, and the Bookstagrammers who took the time to share what they have learnt.
1. Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm was the daughter of a factory worker and a maid, and yet she was also the first Black woman to be elected into congress and the first Black woman to make a bid for the presidency of the United States.
“That I am a national figure because I was the first person in 192 years to be at once a congressman, black and a woman proves, I think, that our society is not yet either just or free.” —Shirley Chisholm.
Read more about her in her book Unbought and Unbossed.
2. Dr Marie Maynard Daly
Dr Daly was the first Black woman to receive a PhD in Chemistry in the US in 1947. Dr Daly’s work was one of the catalysts discovering the relationship between cholesterol and clogged arteries. Even now, less than 1% of the people awarded a PhD in chemistry are Black.
3. Matthew A Henson
Matthew A Henson is the first person to have ever reached the geographic North Pole. You may have been taught it was Robert Peary. It wasn’t. It was Henson. Henson was born to free parents who worked as sharecroppers in 1866 and started his career aged 12 as a cabin boy before being hired as Robert Peary’s personal valet. He studied Inuit survival techniques and learnt the language in order to act as interpreter for the other members of the crew.
You can read more about Henson in A Journey for the Ages.
4. General Thomas Alexandre Dumas
General Dumas was born to an enslaved woman and a French nobleman enslaver in Saint-Dominique in 1772. After his mother’s enslaver and rapist freed him at age 14, he took his mother’s last name and joined the French army. He worked his way up the ranks from private to general and established a reputation as a brave and fierce fighter in the Napoleonic wars. His son, the great author Alexandre Dumas, based the titular character of The Count of Monte Cristo on his father.
You can read more about General Dumas in The Black Count.
5. Anna Murray Douglass
Anna Murray Douglass was Frederick Douglass’s first wife. She was born a free woman and used her sewing gifts and funds to help her husband escape to freedom. Anna gave birth to five children and ran their family home (which was also a stop on the underground railroad) for 44 years while Douglas travelled around speaking on abolition. During this time she received a lot of criticism from his new friends because they thought she wasn’t educated enough to be his wife. Because it was so easy for a free Black woman to get an education (insert sarcastic tone).
You can read more about Anna Murray Douglas in Women in the World of Frederick Douglas and Brief Evidence of Heaven: Poems from the Life of Anna Murray Douglass.
This list is but a drop in the ocean of all the great Black people in history. I encourage you to do some research and find some more.
Don’t join the fight against racism to liberate me and other Black people. Join the fight to liberate yourself, because we are all victims of white supremacy.
