Category: Black History

What’s in a Name?

On By thewriterfredIn Black History5 Comments
Image Courtesy of Imib.org
Image Courtesy of Imib.org

I recently participated in a discussion group at the Carver Library in San Antonio, Texas. During the exchange of ideas among the participants, one brother who called himself, Brother Cedric X, asked me why I hadn’t changed my name from my slave name of Williams. That question changed the entire dialogue of the discussion and was an attempt to make those of us who still have our “slave names” deal with “our failure to break free of our slave mentality.”

It has also triggered my thoughts on what is in a name? Does it really matter that millions of Black folk haven’t taken on an African name? And would it have altered the direction of our history if we had? Does it really matter that Martin DeLaney, Frederick Douglass, Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, and A. Phillip Randolph did not change their names? Could Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. have been a more effective leader if he had been Martin X or Martin Muhammad? In other words, what is more important the individuals’ deeds and accomplishments or their name? What more could Rosa Parks have done if her name had been Rosa Ali? What about Fannie Lou Hamer? Wasn’t it really her no-nonsense fiery personality that made her so effective and not the name?

It seems that our heritage and culture have evolved from African to African/ European because of over four hundred years of absence from Africa, and presence in this country. Furthermore, because of the abuses of slavery we all have a mixture of blood, both African and European. During an interview on the Joe Madison Show, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, host of “Finding Your Roots” PBS program, conjectured that the majority of African Americans can have as much as 20% European blood, and with some as high as 40%. Does the name change help eliminate that influence on who we are? Through the change of names, are we trying to build an African based culture in this country? Name alone will not accomplish that. Culture is about language, religion, music, literature, foods and most important a continuity in history from one generation to the next. What names best fit those variables?

We represent a cultural transformation that has made us a very unique and beautiful people who evolved out of slavery and through Jim Crow and oppression. Our ancestors triumphed over the worst and created the very best not because they were African, but because they were very strong human beings. I, for one, am very satisfied with my African heritage for what it is, and not what I am trying to make it to be. However, in the best interest of our culture and its sustainability, we must accept the fact that we are also influenced by the European/English cultures. Dr. Maya Angelou made that quite clear in an interview with Terry Gross of National Public Radio when she explained that her prose and poetry evolved from the rhythm and imagery of Black southern preachers, the lyricism of the spirituals, the directness of gospel and the mystery of the blues. In the same interview, she told Ms. Gross that one of her favorite poets was Paul Laurence Dunbar and she learned a great deal from his poem “Sympathy.” She also mentioned her admiration for William Shakespeare and was moved by the great English writer’s ability, “to know my heart…a Black woman in the twentieth century.”

For my beautiful brothers and sisters who have changed their name that is something they chose to do for their identity and that is admirable. But that is not what we all must do in order to love and cherish our African past, and absolutely does not mean we harbor any positive feelings about the oppressors from whom our names evolved.

Why We Celebrate Fourth of July

On By thewriterfredIn Black History3 Comments
4th-usct-web
United States Colored Troops | The image shows a black man in a United States uniform, obviously wounded in defense of his country, and there is a caption in the original that reads, “and not this man?” > Image Credit: http://www.civilwar.org

All across America, Black Americans will do as all other races and cultures do on July 4. That is, we will have cookouts at home, picnics in the park, and planned vacations at resorts, beaches and in the homes of close friends and relatives. But the similarities with others end with the various festivities, because our reasons for celebrating this day are quite different. We have no reason to memorialize a day recognized as the beginning of the fight for independence because that independence was not extended to our ancestors. We have no compelling desire to admire George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. We smirk at Patrick Henry’s rallying call, “Give me liberty or give me death,” because we recognize the hypocrisy of those words coming from the mouth of slave owners. Why should we pay deference to the founding fathers?

These men are heroes to the majority of white Americans but villains to Blacks. After all they accepted slavery as legitimate when they failed to do no more than outlaw the international slave trade in 1808, but never condemned slavery or domestic slave trade within the borders of this country. Our heroes are the very men and women who fought against the institution of slavery. Instead of Patrick Henry, we pay homage to David Walker who urged his people to pick up arms and end the oppressor’s tyrannical subjugation of them. Instead of the warrior George Washington, we exalt the warrior Nat Turner, who actually took up arms against evil and fought a real battle for independence. Instead of Martha Washington and Dolly Madison, we respect Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. As Black Americans, we admire and pay deference to Frederick Douglass who refused to be a slave and took his freedom. Abraham Lincoln should not be designated as the great emancipator but as the president who fought a war to save the union. If there is a need for a great emancipator (which I don’t believe is necessary) then that honor should be bestowed on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave his life fighting for absolute freedom and equality for his people. Equality of the races was never given consideration by Lincoln. He made it quite clear that this country was for white people only.

So as my family and I pack up to go spend the holiday with close friends, I will explain to my grandson why we are celebrating, because it is time for Black America to tell their history their way. And that is what I plan to do with friends and family from now on.