Education Can Set Us Free

Learning history keeps us from repeating the same mistakes

The fact that people, let alone politicians, are trying to ban the study of Black History is just appalling to me. Not only is it a dangerous message to send that we don’t need to learn about it, but the reality is that all of our ancestors can be traced back to Africa. If you go back far enough, there are two things that we all have in common; our ancestors, and the 60% of our DNA that we share with chickens. And while it’s important to remember those facts, it’s even more important to teach our kids about slavery in America. The most vital reason to learn about our history is so that we don’t repeat mistakes that we’ve already made, and slavery is very avoidable in that sense. 

I learned from a young age how important it is to treat everyone with respect. Of course this was partially because of my own learning differences, but also because of my family. My second great-grandfather, Dr. Lehman William Williams, was a rare southerner who wanted to end slavery. More than that, he was a doctor who also treated slaves and ex-slaves, which was not common for that time. He also insisted that nobody in his house use the negative word that was mostly used for people of color back then, which my grandmother taught my mother, who then taught me. I am proud to come from a line that recognized early on how inhumane slavery was, and especially impressed by my second great-grandfather for being such an open-minded southerner from Georgia. My hope is that even if some states manage to ban Black History in their schools we can still avoid repeating our mistakes because enough of us are having these important conversations.