African American History

Mine is the first generation of African Americans who do not know their history. Don't get me wrong. We still recognize the big names. We know Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Jesse Jackson and the rest. But the sense of struggle – the sense of the importance of studying African American history and learning from the past how to make a better future – is missing from many of my fellow afro Americans.

I was just like them until I visited the museum of African American history Detroit. That beautiful place changed the way I see everything. Since I went to visit it, I have been asking my parents all kinds of questions about black history. I knew abstractly that they were involved in the civil rights struggle, but I did not really ever think about it very much. I had always thought of my parents as square, you see, and it is hard to reconcile this vision with the idea of them as young radicals fighting for equality.

I have always thought of myself as a rebel, but after studying a little bit of the history of African Americans, I realize it is my parents that are the rebels. They were willing to risk everything – their safety, their freedom, even their life – to make things better for me and my generation. Studying African American history has taught me that I should be grateful to them for the sacrifices that they made. More importantly, it has taught me that it is crucial that I make the most of myself. Being aware of African American history means that I know how hard it was to get to where we are today. I must not squander the chances that I have been given.

Of course, African American history is not just a matter of the past. The history of blacks in America continues today. Issues like ending racial profiling and fighting for affirmative action are every bit as important as desegregation was a generation ago. Nowadays we have advantages that the last generation did not have. Not only do we have equal rights for the most part, but we have whole libraries full of African American history that we can consult. The information is everywhere – in the books shop, in the libraries, and on the Internet. All you have to do is look for it and it is there. By studying African American history, we can make history.

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