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Tim Lumas: Good morning, everyone. My name is Tim Lumas and
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I am an adjunct professor at Moorpark community
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College and I'm also the Basic Needs Specialist
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for Raider Central. We're going to give everybody
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about a minute to get in and then we're going to
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start our Black History Month Kick Off today.
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Jazz music, drums, piano, saxophone, guitar, Welcome to The Saint James Club by The Rippingtons
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Good morning, everyone. My name is Tim Lumas and
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I will be your host today for the Black History
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Month Kickoff. I'd like to get a couple of things
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cleared up. Number one, our Zoom manager is Michael
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Ashton. As you can see from the screen, our
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schedule today, we'll have a welcome by Dr.
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Sokenu and Dr. Gebru. We'll also have a video
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presentation by Dina Pielaet with some of our students
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and faculty. And then Professor Ranford Hopkins
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will do a presentation on the history of Black
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History Month. We'll also announce that we have
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a special guest coming to Moorpark College on
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February 26. And at the end of this, we will have
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some closing remarks by myself, Professor
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Hopkins, and any questions or answer you may have.
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At this time I'd like to introduce the Interim
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President of our college, Dr. Julius Sokenu. Thank
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you, Julius.
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Dr. Julius Sokenu: Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for
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joining us this morning to celebrate Black History
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Month. It is a, it's an honor and a pleasure to be
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here today to confirm for all of us not only why
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it is that we celebrate Black History Month, but
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that Black History Month should be every day. I
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mean, that's, the new message that we should
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send out, is that all our histories, all our
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experiences matter and that we need to value the
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contribution of people of African descent in this
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country every single day, not just in the
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month of February. Why is that important to us?
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Well, for many of us who are in this
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webinar and in this celebration and we'll go
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through the celebration this month, we know
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there's a wealth of of history and a wealth of
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contributions and music, and entertainment, and
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in sports, and in science, and in business, and in
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all walks of life. And that those individuals,
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those individual stories are yet to be told. And
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so Black History Month is a way in which we remind
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ourselves and we bring out more stories, to share
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more stories to affirm, to build into the
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structure that we call our education system, and the
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structure that we call a social narrative of who
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we are and what it means to be America. I
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appreciate the opportunity to be here with you
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today, but I value the work that everyone of this
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Black History Month Committee has put together.
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You have a dynamic, inspiring, you have a really
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thought provoking program scheduled a program for
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this month of February. And it is in deep
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gratitude to the Black History Month Committee and
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particularly to our students and their advisors
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who put this program together. Black History Month
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is celebrated in Moorpark College as a way for us
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to not only acknowledge the contributions of our
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African and African-American brothers and sisters,
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but it is a way for us to make sure that we keep
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telling the stories of what our present brothers
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and sisters, what our present community does to
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keep this country, to keep this state, to keep this
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county vibrant and relevant. I thank you so much
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and appreciate the work that you all do. And I
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wish you a very, very happy Black History Month.
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Tim: Thank you very much, Dr. Sokenu. I'd also
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like to give a shout out to Banea Sumpter for taking the
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lead on the Black History Month celebration. She
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did a fantastic job. And without her and Michael
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Ashton this event could not have taken form. Dr.
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Gebru? Could you give us a welcome, please?
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Dr. Amanuel Gebru: Thank you, Tim Lumas, for including me. And also
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thank you, Julius, Dr. Sokenu, for the warm
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welcome. Just excited to be a part, excited
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that our campus community and our college is
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putting on Black History Month. There's so much to
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recognize. There's so much technology in terms of
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history that our students can learn from our
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community. So just excited to be a part of this.
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But my role today is I really just want to thank
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the people that really make this happen, because
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without the staff, without the committee, without
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the faculty involved to celebrate the importance
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of Black History Month it's critical and I just
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want to take the time to say thank you to a few
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people who are really making this happen for our
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college and our community. So starting off with
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Banea Sumpter, who is one of our lead people
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really helping, coordinating and planning all
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these efforts. Tim Lumas, as you can see, who is
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emceeing this event and helping put this event
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together. Gerald Richardson and one of our
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students, Ka Ren Mac Calla also, Analisa Jugan, Ranford
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Hopkins. Professor Ranford Hopkins, who
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teaches History. Dina Pielaet, who helps with our
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marketing efforts. Micaiah Satterwhite. Trinity
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Hooper. Tamarra Coleman our English faculty. Cynthia
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Barnett, our Sociology faculty. Lauren Snowden,
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another one of our faculty members, and Pauline
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Nassar. And I'm sure there's other folks that it
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may not have listed, but just our huge gratitude
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from our executive team and everyone in our
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community for you putting on a wonderful agenda
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for our faculty, our staff, and our students to
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benefit from this week. And also, I know there's a
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special announcement that Tim and other folks will
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let us know about towards the end of this,
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presentation that I'm also excited about to bring
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to our campus and to bring a scholar who will
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really bring attention to the importance of Black
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History Month, but also to the importance of
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social justice and equity that we truly believe in.
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So, once again, thank you so much for all that you
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do and keep fighting the fight in regards to
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equity and social justice. And we are here to
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support you and also celebrate this month with you.
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Tim: Dr. Gebru, thank you very much for your warm
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welcome. We'd like to start off this with a video
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presentation done by Dina Pielaet, and it's a
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presentation where she interviewed faculty, staff,
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and our students about the significance of Black
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History Month and a tribute to Black history.
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Analisa Jugan: I think we can all agree that just as people and
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as a campus, as a nation, we have a lot of work to
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do when it comes to plenty of social issues. And I
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think Black History Month is a great opportunity
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to reflect on that and the initiatives that we
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want to have to cultivate a society, especially
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here at Moorpark College.
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Ka Ren Mac Calla: I think it's important
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for everyone to be educated about history in
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general and Black history, more importantly,
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because it's a topic that can sometimes be
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considered taboo. There's not a light shined on it
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directly.
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Trinity Hooper: Black history is about owning up to who
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you are. It's about expressing yourself in the
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most creative way to being positively you.
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Tamarra Coleman: I think learning about Black history and learning
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about Black people and culture is critical. I
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think it's important. And I also think it's
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important to learn about all of the different
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people that are here on our campus, in our
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community, in our country, in the world. Right? I
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think the more we learn about who we are, where
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we've come from, I think what we will learn is
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that we are one in many ways, right?
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Dr. Sokenu: In our men and
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women of color, the more we're able to support our
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students and our colleagues in their striving for
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success, the more we're able to bring the vision
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and the dreams, and even in some instances dreams
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that they could not have imagined the more we're able
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to make that real. And that, to me, I think, is
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the, the message that we carry as we celebrate
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Black History Month.
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The moral obligation that we have as we live
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in the world to do every day, not just in February,
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but every single day, that we are living Black
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History Month and that we are helping others up
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and helping others out, and that we are calling out
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when it needs to, but we're also calling in when it is
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necessary.
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Tamarra: I mean, it's laughable that we take a
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history class at any level K through 12 or even in
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higher ed here in the U.S., and there's a section
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in the American history book on black history, as
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if those people just popped up out of nowhere and
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then disappeared, and then we moved on to the next
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chapter, as if there's not an integrated history
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with the slave master and the slave, or whoever or
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whatever point in history we were in. It's really
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silly, actually. Right? So until we get to that
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point where it's integrated in the culture and if
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we're talking about the antebellum South that
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we're talking about those really clear,
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problematic relationships between Black and White
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people that existed on a daily basis in every
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aspect of society. So Black History Month is
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important because we don't even fully know one
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side of that history yet, right?
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Ka Ren: In high school,
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when you're taught about in history classes, you
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only get a few pages of it and you don't even get
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the entire story of what happens. You know, you're
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not really educated on what's going on. So not
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being educated on certain topics might cause a
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certain individual to just say things that they
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don't mean.
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Trinity: Diversity and our actual
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accomplishments that we've done in the past, and
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even as of now, I think it's important that they
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update our textbooks and actually showcase what we
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really are about besides slavery. You know.
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Analisa: I
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remember in my eighth grade class for U.S. History
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seeing that the Black experience was limited to
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two pages and these two textbook pages only
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discussed slavery. And I was confounded, you know,
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by the fact that when you really reflect on
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history, we have been doctors, we have been
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engineers, teachers, you know, just looking at
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this past month, you know, we can be the Vice
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President, we can be presidents and we can be the
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youngest inaugural poet. I think Black History
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Month is an amazing opportunity to reflect not
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only on, you know, the fact that we do have a
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painful history, but that we can learn from. But
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all of the potential that we have.
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Dr. Sokenu: Those
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individuals who struggled, set the ground for our
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successes today, and it's incumbent upon us
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to now do the same for those who will come after
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us. And that's why I do think that, you know, the
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work that we do at the college to make sure that
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we have diverse faculty, and staff, and
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administrators available to our students and the
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students see the individuals who are like them, and
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they are able to connect with those individuals,
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but at the same time that we work with allies
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from other communities so that they are better
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able to do the work of supporting us, you know, in
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our journeys They're able to understand and value
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our experiences, so that those experiences are
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integrated into the instruction, into the
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curriculum, and integrated into the ways in which
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people deliver information and deliver knowledge,
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and share knowledge.
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Tamarra: Normally I teach primarily
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writers of color, or women, or folks who identify as
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LGBT, QI,
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And we were reading Fences set in the 1950s about
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a Black family. Main character was a really good
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baseball player, but was not able to be a part of
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the major leagues because of segregation, right?
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So before we got into the text, I said to my class,
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here at Moorpark, "Tell me what's going on in the
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1950s. Give me just a background of the history
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generally what's happening in the 1950s in America."
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And inevitably every semester the students would
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say to me, so they knew there is a racial issue
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they just didn't know what they would say, "Slavery."
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And I would say to myself, "The 1950s?" but
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it was clear to me that there was a disconnect in
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knowledge base that the students had coming out of
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our feeder schools in our district, and I suspect
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it's probably true outside of this area as well
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about the history, just American history in
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general, but in particular about Black people.
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What they knew about Black people was slavery.
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That's it. They were slaves at some point. We
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don't know the details, what that meant, but we
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know the bad thing that happened to Black people,
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right, was slavery. And I just thought we've got a
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lot of work to do.
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Ka Ren: I don't know. Growing up in
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L.A., I never looked at anyone with race or with
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color. I was just kind of like, "Oh, there's the
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person." And then moving out of that and seeing
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other people who just made the distinction between
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me and their friends kind of making me feel like,
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"Oh, I'm noticing my color," when I just think that it's
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not all about color and race.
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Trinity: When it comes to
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family, usually people think it's only skin deep,
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but it's about relating on a different type of
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level, making lifelong friendships, having a safe
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space that you probably wouldn't get if you're
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just alone or by yourself.
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Dr. Sokenu: Our work is that we're
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moving towards justice. Our work is that we're
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moving towards equity. Our work and our lives, I
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would say is that we're moving towards celebrating
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and investing in one another's humanity.
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Tamarra: The
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moments in which I feel most useful on the planet
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is really that moment, whether it's in the
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classroom or it's in the community, organizing
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people, women, folks of color around issues, when
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I see that my voice, my willingness to be
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vulnerable and share my story actually impacts
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other people.
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Analisa: My ideal is that we have Black
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history awareness. And, you know, ideally we
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wouldn't have particular months where, you know,
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we've had to shine a light. At the end of the day,
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I think we all want a time where we feel all of
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our history is shared and we reflect on all of
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that history.
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Dr. Sokenu: I hope that in my own work and in
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the work that we do at this college, we model for
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our students, all students, but in particular for
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our students who are from minority communities,
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that their voice matters, that we model for them,
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that the potential within them is infinite.
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Trinity: Two years ago, when I didn't feel comfortable in
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my own skin or people made me feel as if I wasn't
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good enough, but you have to step out of your shell
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and just showcase who you really are.
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Ka Ren: No matter
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what anyone else tells you, as long as you put
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your mind to it, you can do it, you can
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carry it out, you can succeed and you can go
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beyond what anyone is telling you that
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you can do. There is no limitation except the
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limitations that you put on yourself and the
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situation that you are in now, whether you can
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control it or you can't control it and it's
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out of reach, this is not forever, this is just
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a temporary moment, and in due time, you will be
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able to make that the steps that you need to take
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to where you want.
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Dr. Sokenu: This is particularly important
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to our young people and it's particularly important to our
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students because you will get voices and messages
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that might say you're less than and some of those
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voices might come from within yourself and they
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might come from outside. What is so important is
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to have that grounding, that belief and that
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understanding of the history and of the
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accomplishments, so that the negativity, so that
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the doubt...
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is wiped away. We will have those moments of
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doubt, but that those moments of doubt are erased
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because we know...
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that we are worthy. Because we know that we make and have
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made this civilization what it is.
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Ka Ren: Making a change
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starts with you.
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Trinity: Owning up to who you are and owning
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just everything about yourself, and what you can
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put into the world is important.
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Analisa: The beauty, the pain,
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the suffering. We can reflect on who we want to
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become and not just as the Black community, but as
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our whole entire community.
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Tamarra: We all are sort of
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looking for the same things in terms of our lives,
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our purpose, our meaning, our gifts, being valued
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for whatever they are, right? So in many ways, I
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think diversity is, it is, right? It's not, "Do
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we like it or not?" It is... diversity is. The question
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is, are we going to value that, right, in one
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another and help build upon that?
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Dr. Sokenu: I ask you to
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live Black History Month every day. Let Black
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History Month be the lens through which you live
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your life.
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On screen text: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." By Martin Luther King Jr.
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On screen text: Black History Month Committee: Banea Sumpter, Timothy Lumas, Gerald Richardson the Third, Ka Ren Mac Calla, Analisa Jugan, Ranford Hopkins, Dina Pielaet, Micaiah Satterwhite, Trinity Hooper, Tamarra Coleman, Cynthia Barnett, Lauren Snowden, Pauline Nassar. Special thanks to Dr. Sokenu, Members of the Black Student Union.
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On screen text: Moorpark College Presents A Tribute to Black History
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Tim: Thank you very much Dina that was wonderful.
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At this point, I'd like to introduce the feature
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presentation, the future keynote speaker
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today, and that is Professor Ranford
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Hopkins, who will be talking to us about Why Black
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History Month, Professor Hopkins?
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You're muted.
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You're muted.
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Ranford Hopkins: You think I'd know by now, right? Before I go any
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further, I've got to say that was an exceptional
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tribute to to black history and to Black History
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Month. Hats off to all the contributors. The
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truth, the passion you shared, you so inspiring. I
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appreciate that. Tim, I'm sure, you know, when
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you described me as emeritus, you mean that I'm old
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and retired. To all attendees thanks for your time
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and joining the webinar. Thanks to the Black
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Student Union and other entities for the invite.
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This talk on Black History Month, or as I like to
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say, Black History Month and historical context
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has three parts. Part one, I'd like to look at the
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pejorative perspective of black history on Black
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people before Carter G. Woodson. Carter G. Woodson
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is considered the father of Black History Month.
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Secondly, Carter G. Woodson's efforts to change
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the pejorative view of Black people and their
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history, and then finally, just a quick case study
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of the radical origins of Black History Month.
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Next slide, please?
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I like to start my history classes with this
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concept, "In history, there is no beginning, only
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the event that preceded in question." If we can
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say that you can't understand the present without
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the past, then, for example, if we were to start
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next slide, please? If we were to start with the
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movement for civil rights, it's difficult to
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understand the Civil Rights Movement without
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understanding the Jim Crow Era. It's difficult to
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understand the Jim Crow Era without understanding
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why there was reconstruction. Why was there a
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civil war?
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What about antebellum slavery? And then finally,
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William Tucker. We'll get to know William Tucker
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in just a moment. And of course, if we were to
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continue backwards and looking backwards in
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history, eventually we'd wind up and Olduvai Gorge
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in Tanzania with the beginning of Homo Sapiens.
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Next slide? But we don't want to do that, right?
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So let's start with this gentleman. His name is
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Urlich B. Phillips, professor of History, out of
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the University of Michigan. In the, at the turn of
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the century and through the early 30s and 40s, he
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wrote a very impactful work that was called
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American Negro Slavery. To his credit, Phillips
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did, in fact, write a history about Black people.
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To his discredit, he offered a very pejorative
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view of African-American people, especially slaves.
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in general. Next slide, please?
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So Philips' thesis was that slavery benefited the
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Negro. As far as he was concerned slaves were
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innately docile, submissive, ignorant and
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unstable. He believed that Black people were
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predisposed to be slaves, that in order for Blacks
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to be successful in America, they needed to be
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slaves, to be acculturated to the culture. And
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finally, he believed that Black people needed
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protection because they could not compete in a
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competitive world. Next slide?
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Major themes.
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Of course...we would ask Phillips, "Did you consider
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the forces that were oppressing Blacks?" Lack of
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meaningful economic opportunity, voting rights
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circumvented in the North and non-existent in the
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South. Victims of violence or threat of violence
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within which seldom legal recourse. Most lacked
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quality educational opportunities. And I want to
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concentrate just a moment on this last one,
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victimized by demeaning stereotypes. So for the next, I have
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three slides I'd like you to see and I'd like you
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to think and reflect upon each one. Next slide?
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In the vein of stereotypes. This one is entitled
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How Ink Is Made.
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This is a postcard. Postcards like these were
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thousands and can spread throughout the country
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year after year.
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Next slide?
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This placard it's called Not Particular. If you
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aren't able to read it because the print is so
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small, allow me. "I know you're not particular to a
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fault, though I'm not sure you'll never be sued
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for assault. You're so fond of women that even a
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wench attracts your gross fancy despite her stench."
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Finally, the next slide?
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From this world renowned novelist...and major
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contributor to short stories is Agatha Christie.
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She wrote a book called Ten Little n-words, and
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she wrote another one called Ten Little Indians.
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Unfortunately, the story ends with all ten of these
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people being killed.
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Next slide?
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Now in building this look at stereotypes, I want
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you to imagine if you're a little Black boy,
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scratch that a little White boy or little White
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girl growing up anywhere in the country, but let's
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say the Midwest and you've never seen or don't
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know Black people, and if you're constantly
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visited with these kinds of images, the ones we've
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just seen and what you're going to see, and what
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we'll talk about here in a minute in Birth of A
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Nation, you can imagine how that might impact your
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view of the whole population of people. So The
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Birth of A Nation is the granddaddy of all
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stereotypes about Black people. First of all, the
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film is largely based on the lost cause ideology
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of the South. For those of you who don't know,
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with a lost cause of the ideology of the South was
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one perspective is to look at it is that the
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Confederacy was just and the Confederacy was
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heroic. The things they stood for, states rights,
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Blacks as subservient was one. Secondly, the film
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and the whole notion of this lost cause ideology
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is the notion that freedom, equality would ruin
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Black people. Black people need to be subjugated
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and taken care of.
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Also, this freedom and equal opportunity will ruin
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the nation. The nation will spend too much time
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and energy trying to help Black people. And
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finally, one of the most coveted pieces in white
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supremacy is protection of white womanhood. So The
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Birth of A Nation film repeatedly makes clear
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that black equality would undermine the security
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of White women. Black men should not touch, speak, or
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provide even the slightest suggestion of sexual
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interest in White women. Many of you may remember
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the case of Emmett Till back in 1955.
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This is a perfect example of recent times,
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and there have been I mean, the history is replete
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with this kind of activity, but Emmett Till was a
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14 year old boy from Chicago who had come to Money,
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Mississippi. He met his two cousins. They go into
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a little country store. And one of the things
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that Emmett had told his friends is that I have a
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girlfriend in Chicago who is white and they
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couldn't believe it. So then they dared him to go
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into that store and just say something to that
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White woman. Well they got their candy and were on
503
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:29,220
the way out and and Emmett turned 14 year old boy,
504
00:29:29,220 --> 00:29:32,440
turned to this grown woman and said, "Bye, baby."
505
00:29:33,690 --> 00:29:37,290
Well, next, we find that Emmett Till was shot in
506
00:29:37,290 --> 00:29:41,520
the head, body, mutilated and tied to a cotton gin
507
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:45,060
fan. So these are the kind of activities that can
508
00:29:45,060 --> 00:29:49,320
occur with this concept of the lost cause of the
509
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,720
Confederacy. And we're beginning to see some
510
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,510
activity like that. We've seen activity like that
511
00:29:54,510 --> 00:29:56,940
throughout history, and it seems to be escalating
512
00:29:57,330 --> 00:30:00,660
here in the last, shall I say, eight years. Next
513
00:30:00,660 --> 00:30:01,310
slide, please?
514
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:11,480
Here is just a picture of Lillian Gish. She is the
515
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:16,280
kind of person that, if this lost cause, is trying
516
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:19,340
to protect and to generate the most emotional
517
00:30:19,340 --> 00:30:20,810
feeling. Next slide?
518
00:30:24,340 --> 00:30:29,950
Now, contrary to the thinking of the lost cause
519
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:35,230
and to the thinking of Professor Phillips is
520
00:30:35,230 --> 00:30:38,920
Carter G. Woodson. Carter G. Woodson, an American
521
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:43,780
historian, journalist, author, founder of Negro
522
00:30:43,780 --> 00:30:47,680
History Week. He becomes the precursor for Black
523
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:53,290
History Month. To my mind mindset, Woodson set the
524
00:30:53,290 --> 00:30:56,170
platform for the beginning of African-American
525
00:30:56,170 --> 00:30:59,110
studies in this country in a serious way. Little
526
00:30:59,110 --> 00:31:03,010
wonder he is called the father of African-American
527
00:31:03,010 --> 00:31:03,460
history.
528
00:31:05,710 --> 00:31:06,340
Next slide?
529
00:31:08,580 --> 00:31:14,220
So Woodson had a dream, he had goals, and his
530
00:31:14,220 --> 00:31:17,010
goal was through the study of African American
531
00:31:17,010 --> 00:31:19,950
history, not too dissimilar for many of the things
532
00:31:19,950 --> 00:31:21,960
that were shared in the tributes. The tributes
533
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:27,000
nailed that was shown earlier. The
534
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,940
tributes nailed many of the goals that Carter G.
535
00:31:31,950 --> 00:31:35,670
Woodson hope to accomplish. To create racial
536
00:31:35,670 --> 00:31:40,260
harmony, to reduce prominence of racial
537
00:31:40,260 --> 00:31:44,400
stereotypes, and to inspire African-American youth
538
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:48,210
to achieve. He believe that if Black kids knew
539
00:31:48,450 --> 00:31:51,930
what their ancestors had done, they would feel
540
00:31:51,930 --> 00:31:55,290
pride and a sense of accomplishment and
541
00:31:55,290 --> 00:31:59,160
achievement for their own future. Okay, next slide,
542
00:31:59,160 --> 00:31:59,550
please?
543
00:32:05,610 --> 00:32:06,590
Next slide, please?
544
00:32:11,740 --> 00:32:16,270
Woodson's view. I'm sorry, can we go back? No,
545
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:19,890
that's right. You don't have to. His solution was,
546
00:32:20,670 --> 00:32:24,690
okay, I'm sorry, Michael, yeah, you could go back. I
547
00:32:24,690 --> 00:32:26,580
didn't know how easy it was to go back. All right.
548
00:32:26,940 --> 00:32:31,560
So Woodson's solution was to found an organization
549
00:32:31,770 --> 00:32:35,070
that would coordinate, develop, and promote the
550
00:32:35,070 --> 00:32:38,040
study of African-American history. This
551
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,280
organization was called the Study of Negro,
552
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:44,250
The Association for the Study of Negro Life and
553
00:32:44,250 --> 00:32:49,440
History. Then he also created in 1916 a scholarly
554
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:51,870
journal, The Journal of Negro History, which is
555
00:32:51,870 --> 00:32:54,300
still published today under a different name. The
556
00:32:54,300 --> 00:32:56,010
Journal of African-American History,
557
00:32:58,290 --> 00:33:03,030
to help bring scholarship and scholarship could be
558
00:33:03,030 --> 00:33:05,610
contributed from any group of people Whites,
559
00:33:05,610 --> 00:33:08,130
Blacks, no matter what your stripe, you were
560
00:33:08,130 --> 00:33:11,520
welcome to contribute to the scholarship. And of
561
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:15,570
course, all populations did. Next slide?
562
00:33:18,250 --> 00:33:21,070
Woodson wrote a book, a very famous book called The
563
00:33:21,070 --> 00:33:25,210
Miseducation of the Negro, and one of his lines
564
00:33:25,210 --> 00:33:28,600
that I like best was his view of why history is
565
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:33,040
important. He said, "If a race has no history, it
566
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,730
has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a
567
00:33:36,730 --> 00:33:39,490
negligible factor in the thought of the world and
568
00:33:39,490 --> 00:33:44,550
it stands in danger of being exterminated." From
569
00:33:44,550 --> 00:33:47,760
his work and the work of the association, we have
570
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:51,360
the beginnings of Negro History Week in February
571
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:58,450
of 1926. Carter G. Woodson admired Lincoln,
572
00:33:59,690 --> 00:34:03,080
loved Frederick Douglass and their birthdays were
573
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:06,140
respectfully, respectfully on the 12th and the
574
00:34:06,140 --> 00:34:10,100
14th of February, and that's why Negro History
575
00:34:10,340 --> 00:34:15,110
Week and Black History Month remain to this day in
576
00:34:15,500 --> 00:34:17,360
February. Next?
577
00:34:20,950 --> 00:34:24,020
Now, Woodson did not work alone. What you see on the
578
00:34:24,020 --> 00:34:28,610
screen is the so-called Divine Nine. These are the
579
00:34:28,610 --> 00:34:32,780
original nine fraternities and sororities, the
580
00:34:32,780 --> 00:34:36,260
original nine black fraternities and sororities
581
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,420
and each one of these groups in their own way,
582
00:34:41,630 --> 00:34:45,680
even before Woodson's were those that were
583
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,230
established before 1926, each one
584
00:34:48,230 --> 00:34:53,510
of them celebrated the black experience, if not in
585
00:34:53,510 --> 00:34:57,620
a formal history week or history month. Those
586
00:34:57,620 --> 00:35:00,800
divine nine included, first of all, the Alpha,
587
00:35:01,820 --> 00:35:04,640
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, which was the first
588
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:09,500
Greek organization, the AKA's, the Alpha Kappa
589
00:35:09,890 --> 00:35:15,710
Alpha sorority, first black sorority, the nation's
590
00:35:15,710 --> 00:35:20,660
VP, as you well know, is a member of the esteemed
591
00:35:21,470 --> 00:35:25,760
Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Kamala Harris makes
592
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:30,190
that clear often when she is speaking. Next slide?
593
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:36,810
And then there's the Omega Psi Phi. Woodson was a
594
00:35:36,810 --> 00:35:40,860
member of the Omega Psi Phi and this organization
595
00:35:41,930 --> 00:35:45,740
held annually, celebrated literary achievements of
596
00:35:45,740 --> 00:35:49,250
the race before 1926. So there
597
00:35:49,250 --> 00:35:53,450
already is we can see folks working and trying to
598
00:35:53,450 --> 00:35:56,460
save the history of Black people. Next slide?
599
00:36:01,620 --> 00:36:05,160
This person we don't often hear but George
600
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,280
Washington Williams wrote the first truly
601
00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:11,320
scholarly History of The Negro Race in America.
602
00:36:12,750 --> 00:36:17,940
His work predated that of Professor Phillips out
603
00:36:17,940 --> 00:36:21,570
of Michigan and was much more accurate and well
604
00:36:21,570 --> 00:36:27,670
researched than Phillips was. Next slide? And of
605
00:36:27,670 --> 00:36:32,080
course, no mention of African-American history or
606
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:35,650
African-American studies or culture can leave out
607
00:36:35,890 --> 00:36:40,780
the work of W.E.B. DuBois. DuBois, sociologist,
608
00:36:40,780 --> 00:36:43,570
historian, writer, civil rights and eventually a
609
00:36:43,570 --> 00:36:47,560
Pan-Africanist, his doctoral dissertation out of
610
00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:51,930
Harvard. And by the way, he was the first Ph.D.
611
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,780
out of Harvard was The Suppression of The African
612
00:36:54,780 --> 00:36:57,390
Slave Trade to the United States of America. This
613
00:36:57,390 --> 00:37:02,260
was the first scholarly work on the slave trade,
614
00:37:02,270 --> 00:37:06,170
then The Philadelphia Negro, a sociological study,
615
00:37:06,170 --> 00:37:09,920
The first sociological study on an urban community,
616
00:37:10,070 --> 00:37:14,030
certainly the first sociological study of the
617
00:37:14,030 --> 00:37:17,300
Black community. And then his famous book, I urge
618
00:37:17,300 --> 00:37:19,610
everyone to read this book, The Souls of Black
619
00:37:19,610 --> 00:37:23,270
Folk. It says so much. But one of the major themes we
620
00:37:23,270 --> 00:37:26,240
all take away from it and we still quote and talk
621
00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:29,180
about this to this day, he wrote the book in
622
00:37:29,180 --> 00:37:32,390
1903. How prophetic was the notion
623
00:37:32,390 --> 00:37:35,420
that the 20th century brought the problem of the
624
00:37:35,420 --> 00:37:38,510
20th century is the problem of the color line?
625
00:37:39,380 --> 00:37:40,450
Next slide, please?
626
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:46,190
So all of the authors that I've talked about
627
00:37:46,190 --> 00:37:48,830
before, including the fraternities and sororities,
628
00:37:48,830 --> 00:37:52,610
were busy in their own way, recording, writing,
629
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:57,540
African-American history. None more than the
630
00:37:57,540 --> 00:38:00,480
various names you see some of the great scholars
631
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:02,940
of the 1940s, 50s, and into the
632
00:38:02,940 --> 00:38:07,920
60s, from DuBois to Buckmaster, to Hofstadter,
633
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,880
to Aptheker, to Benjamin Quarrels, both Black and
634
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:15,720
White historians and none more than the dean of
635
00:38:15,720 --> 00:38:18,090
African-American history. We call him John
636
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:23,100
Franklin, the historian. All of these people
637
00:38:23,100 --> 00:38:26,670
contributed to trying to piece together this
638
00:38:26,670 --> 00:38:30,000
history that was 180 degrees
639
00:38:30,300 --> 00:38:34,590
opposite of the themes and the thesis that Dr.
640
00:38:34,590 --> 00:38:35,790
Phillips put forward.
641
00:38:38,970 --> 00:38:45,660
Now, a major paradigm shift occurs in the writing
642
00:38:45,660 --> 00:38:49,170
of American of African-American history through this
643
00:38:49,170 --> 00:38:51,570
book that you see in the center between Kenneth
644
00:38:51,570 --> 00:38:55,980
Stampp, University of California at Berkeley, and
645
00:38:55,980 --> 00:38:58,680
Franklin. The book is entitled The Peculiar
646
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:03,860
Institution. Stampp aggressively refuted Phillips'
647
00:39:03,860 --> 00:39:07,580
conclusions about enslaved African-Americans. His
648
00:39:07,580 --> 00:39:10,790
research, unlike Phillips' was based on data, was
649
00:39:10,790 --> 00:39:14,660
based on the actual words and testimony of slaves,
650
00:39:14,670 --> 00:39:17,540
so he knew more accurately...
651
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:24,280
how the enslaved felt about their
652
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:26,800
conditions and much more research, of course, have
653
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:31,480
been done since his work. But Stampp argued that
654
00:39:31,780 --> 00:39:35,680
African-Americans found slavery, found subtle ways
655
00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:41,280
and not so subtle means to fight...slavery.
656
00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:45,510
African-American found ways to maintain various
657
00:39:45,510 --> 00:39:50,010
aspects of their African heritage and to
658
00:39:50,010 --> 00:39:54,180
develop new traditions based on their experiences
659
00:39:54,870 --> 00:39:58,260
and under unspeakable oppression.
660
00:39:58,980 --> 00:40:02,160
African-Americans found ways to maintain family
661
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:05,370
systems or more commonly they found ways to
662
00:40:05,370 --> 00:40:08,880
create new ones based on the rigid and demeaning
663
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:12,530
system under which they were forced to exist.
664
00:40:17,020 --> 00:40:21,430
The seeds that Woodson had planted are now
665
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,170
beginning to bloom. Next slide, please?
666
00:40:27,950 --> 00:40:32,490
Of course, Woodson believed proper education
667
00:40:32,490 --> 00:40:37,440
would fix any social societal ills with education,
668
00:40:38,670 --> 00:40:42,060
could change the hearts and minds. If people knew
669
00:40:42,060 --> 00:40:45,030
the contributions of Black people to the nation
670
00:40:45,570 --> 00:40:48,330
and knew the contributions of those to the world
671
00:40:48,630 --> 00:40:52,380
than stereotypes and ignorance would perhaps
672
00:40:52,380 --> 00:40:55,230
wither. I'd like you to meet some friends I
673
00:40:55,230 --> 00:40:59,730
brought with me to the presentation. These are the
674
00:40:59,730 --> 00:41:02,970
kinds of people that Woodson believed would change
675
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:07,530
preconceptions and would change attitudes about
676
00:41:07,530 --> 00:41:13,080
Black people. These folks are personalities from
677
00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:16,590
the 17th through the 19th century. Many of us,
678
00:41:17,100 --> 00:41:20,040
when we talk about African-American history, we
679
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:23,220
rightly talk about people like Martin Luther King,
680
00:41:23,220 --> 00:41:26,610
or Jackie Robinson, or Ida Wells Barnett, or Aretha
681
00:41:26,610 --> 00:41:29,670
Franklin, but there is so much more to
682
00:41:29,670 --> 00:41:32,700
African-American history in these early period. So
683
00:41:32,700 --> 00:41:35,730
what I'd like to share with you a few of the folks
684
00:41:36,090 --> 00:41:39,150
that Carter Woodson would point to and say, "See,
685
00:41:39,300 --> 00:41:41,460
look what we've done, look what we've accomplished,"
686
00:41:41,460 --> 00:41:43,950
and they're from all aspects of life. So next, I'm
687
00:41:43,950 --> 00:41:46,770
sorry, let me stay there with William Tucker. So
688
00:41:46,770 --> 00:41:49,890
William Tucker has the distinction of being the
689
00:41:49,890 --> 00:41:56,340
first person of African descent, born in the
690
00:41:56,340 --> 00:42:00,600
United States. His parents, along with 18 other
691
00:42:01,020 --> 00:42:05,340
Black people, were brought from Africa to America
692
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:10,020
in 1619. But they did not come as slaves. They
693
00:42:10,020 --> 00:42:13,530
came as indentured servants. And when they arrived,
694
00:42:13,530 --> 00:42:16,470
by the time they had served their terms as
695
00:42:16,470 --> 00:42:19,890
indentured servants from five to seven years, most
696
00:42:19,890 --> 00:42:25,060
of them went on to acquire the property that was
697
00:42:25,060 --> 00:42:29,530
due them, and especially Isabell and Antoney. Next
698
00:42:29,530 --> 00:42:29,850
slide?
699
00:42:32,570 --> 00:42:35,330
Paul Cuffee, have you heard of Paul Cuffee before?
700
00:42:35,330 --> 00:42:39,140
Wealthy businessman, shipbuilder, merchant, he
701
00:42:39,140 --> 00:42:41,960
aided the American Revolution. He's the first
702
00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:46,550
Black person to sue for the right to vote. Sued
703
00:42:46,550 --> 00:42:48,850
the state of Massachusetts for the right to vote.
704
00:42:49,460 --> 00:42:52,490
He sought to establish a colony of free
705
00:42:52,490 --> 00:42:57,140
African-Americans in Sierra Leone. Unfortunately,
706
00:42:57,530 --> 00:43:05,000
that effort was really designed to colonize the
707
00:43:05,870 --> 00:43:09,620
populations living in Sierra Leone, believing that
708
00:43:09,860 --> 00:43:12,800
Western culture, American culture would help them
709
00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:15,560
to achieve more than their own culture. Next?
710
00:43:17,620 --> 00:43:22,510
David Walker. David Walker, first freedom fighter,
711
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:26,780
as far as I'm concerned, he predated the stances
712
00:43:26,780 --> 00:43:30,170
taken later by Malcolm or the Black Panther Party.
713
00:43:31,030 --> 00:43:33,280
He wrote a famous book, you may have heard of it,
714
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:36,820
called Walker's Appeal. The full title of that
715
00:43:36,940 --> 00:43:40,060
book was Walker's Appeal to the Colored Citizens
716
00:43:40,060 --> 00:43:42,940
of the World, but in particular and very expressly
717
00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:46,630
to those of the United States of America. This is
718
00:43:46,630 --> 00:43:49,780
the first sustained written assault upon slavery
719
00:43:50,050 --> 00:43:54,040
and racism to come out by a Black man. One of the
720
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:55,960
points that we should know about this book, if you
721
00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:58,000
don't remember anything else about it, remember
722
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:03,460
that his audience was not the black elite, not
723
00:44:03,460 --> 00:44:06,850
those Blacks who found a way to scratch a decent
724
00:44:06,850 --> 00:44:10,870
living either in the north or the south and not to
725
00:44:10,870 --> 00:44:13,990
the white liberals are the anti slavers. His book
726
00:44:14,530 --> 00:44:17,860
was written to the masses of Blacks to try to help
727
00:44:17,860 --> 00:44:21,220
to teach them that they do not need to take this
728
00:44:21,220 --> 00:44:25,570
system and try to survive in it. They need to
729
00:44:25,570 --> 00:44:28,150
find other ways. Okay, next slide?
730
00:44:30,430 --> 00:44:32,350
Harriet Tubman, we all know Harriet Tubman,
731
00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:37,600
you cannot talk about sacrifice, you cannot talk
732
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:40,960
about the drive for American freedom without
733
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,870
mentioning Harriet Tubman. Prolific conductor of
734
00:44:43,870 --> 00:44:47,560
the Underground Railroad. She was successful in
735
00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:51,010
commandeering some two hundred, as she called
736
00:44:51,010 --> 00:44:54,730
charges out of slavery. Two hundred Black men,
737
00:44:54,730 --> 00:44:58,910
women and children out of slavery. And she wasn't on
738
00:44:58,910 --> 00:45:01,360
a horse most of the time and she wasn't in a wagon,
739
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:04,940
they literally walked from various states,
740
00:45:05,150 --> 00:45:09,290
especially in the southeast there up to north to
741
00:45:09,860 --> 00:45:12,710
to freedom or even as far as Canada where they
742
00:45:12,710 --> 00:45:16,220
were taken. She was a Union army spy, a scout, a
743
00:45:16,220 --> 00:45:22,640
nurse, and one of her most ardent friends and
744
00:45:23,270 --> 00:45:26,300
someone she trusted with her life as he trusted
745
00:45:26,300 --> 00:45:29,000
with her life was John Brown. John Brown, of
746
00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:32,030
course, was the man who led to famous or infamous
747
00:45:32,720 --> 00:45:36,530
raid on Harpers Ferry. She helped to finance him
748
00:45:37,010 --> 00:45:40,940
in that episode in Harpers Ferry.
749
00:45:41,060 --> 00:45:43,780
Unfortunately for him and maybe for all of us,
750
00:45:43,780 --> 00:45:45,410
it didn't work. Next?
751
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:51,290
Then as William Lloyd Garrison. William Lloyd
752
00:45:51,290 --> 00:45:51,920
Garrison...
753
00:45:54,380 --> 00:45:57,410
says it all with this quote about himself. He
754
00:45:57,410 --> 00:46:01,160
wrote this, the most popular and the most infamous
755
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:05,690
antislavery newspaper called The Liberator, and he
756
00:46:05,690 --> 00:46:09,020
also founded a regional organization called the
757
00:46:09,020 --> 00:46:12,560
New England Anti Slavery Society. And then it went
758
00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:15,770
national. It was the American Antislavery Society.
759
00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:19,130
And they did good work in trying to help liberate
760
00:46:19,130 --> 00:46:21,500
the slaves. They often helped and financed the
761
00:46:21,500 --> 00:46:24,860
Underground Railroad. But to understand Garrison
762
00:46:24,860 --> 00:46:28,820
and what he stood for, let me read a quote that he
763
00:46:28,820 --> 00:46:31,640
had given just before he launched the Liberator
764
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:37,010
newspaper. "A few white victims must be sacrificed
765
00:46:37,010 --> 00:46:40,130
to open the eyes of this nation and show the
766
00:46:40,130 --> 00:46:43,880
tyranny of our laws. I expect and I am willing to
767
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:48,230
be persecuted in prison and bound for advocating
768
00:46:48,230 --> 00:46:52,190
African rights. And I deserve to be a slave myself
769
00:46:52,190 --> 00:46:54,620
if I shrunk from that duty or danger."
770
00:46:56,780 --> 00:46:59,390
People like Garrison have always existed in
771
00:46:59,390 --> 00:47:03,350
American history. Garrison was trying to help
772
00:47:03,350 --> 00:47:05,930
people that didn't look like him because it was
773
00:47:05,930 --> 00:47:08,840
the right thing to do. We've had people throughout
774
00:47:08,840 --> 00:47:12,980
history of all stripes, black, yellow, brown.
775
00:47:16,190 --> 00:47:21,620
The epitome of that whole notion is embodied in
776
00:47:21,620 --> 00:47:25,760
one of our dear colleagues that we recently lost
777
00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:28,460
last month, Kathryn Adams of the English
778
00:47:28,460 --> 00:47:31,700
Department. Kathryn would give her life to help
779
00:47:31,700 --> 00:47:36,140
others. And so I just want to pay tribute to her.
780
00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:39,140
Let's move on to the next slide.
781
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:48,810
This is Mary Ellen Pleasant, another one of these
782
00:47:48,810 --> 00:47:51,540
African-American women who were millionaires in
783
00:47:51,540 --> 00:47:55,230
their lifetime. She was called the Harriet Tubman
784
00:47:55,230 --> 00:47:58,140
of the West because she worked so hard not to end slavery,
785
00:47:58,140 --> 00:48:03,180
but to raise up those Blacks who were injured or
786
00:48:03,180 --> 00:48:05,790
who had difficulty surviving. And she brought a
787
00:48:05,790 --> 00:48:10,110
number of legal suits in San Francisco against
788
00:48:10,740 --> 00:48:14,750
discrimination and unfair treatment, next. Oh,
789
00:48:14,970 --> 00:48:17,520
also, one other thing I'd like to remember about
790
00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:20,730
her, she is said to have given close to five
791
00:48:20,730 --> 00:48:26,010
hundred thousand dollars to John Brown also in
792
00:48:26,010 --> 00:48:32,400
his pursuit to the activity he did down in
793
00:48:34,050 --> 00:48:37,050
Harpers Ferry in Virginia. Okay next slide?
794
00:48:39,500 --> 00:48:42,140
Now, I've become an avid golfer, so I took a
795
00:48:42,140 --> 00:48:45,230
little liberty here, but this liberty is important
796
00:48:45,230 --> 00:48:49,160
to understand. Many, many people sometimes
797
00:48:49,460 --> 00:48:54,890
categorize sports or activities based on a race.
798
00:48:55,140 --> 00:48:59,210
So White people search, White people ride skateboards,
799
00:48:59,540 --> 00:49:01,550
but that's not for Black people. That's no longer
800
00:49:01,550 --> 00:49:04,940
true in 2021. But for much of our
801
00:49:04,940 --> 00:49:06,710
history, there are certain things Black people did
802
00:49:06,720 --> 00:49:08,600
and certain things White people do. One of the
803
00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:10,550
things Black people don't do is play golf. That's
804
00:49:10,550 --> 00:49:13,070
a White man's sport. Well, let me tell you this.
805
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:20,630
The first time that an American played in the
806
00:49:20,630 --> 00:49:26,450
United States Open Golf Tournament was this man on
807
00:49:26,450 --> 00:49:29,450
the left, John Shippen, he becomes the first
808
00:49:29,450 --> 00:49:31,820
African-American golfer to play, but he wasn't
809
00:49:31,820 --> 00:49:34,490
only the first African-American golfer to play,
810
00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:38,810
but he was the first American golfer to play in
811
00:49:38,810 --> 00:49:44,480
the US Open. His friend, a Shinnecock Native
812
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:48,350
American by the name of Oscar Bunn also played. So
813
00:49:48,350 --> 00:49:52,790
the first Americans to play in the U.S. Open were
814
00:49:52,790 --> 00:49:56,810
both people of color. You might say, "Well, what do
815
00:49:56,810 --> 00:50:00,140
you mean? Who else was playing if they if these
816
00:50:00,140 --> 00:50:02,030
were the only people?" Well, there were no
817
00:50:02,030 --> 00:50:05,240
Americans. The people who brought golf to America
818
00:50:05,240 --> 00:50:09,500
were Scottish people, or English, or the Irish they
819
00:50:09,500 --> 00:50:13,430
played. But at the first term in 1895
820
00:50:13,430 --> 00:50:15,470
and then this tournament that these
821
00:50:15,470 --> 00:50:18,440
gentlemen first participated in 1896,
822
00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:19,850
and
823
00:50:22,050 --> 00:50:26,490
Shippen becomes the first American golfer to win
824
00:50:26,490 --> 00:50:30,120
prize money in the U.S. Open. Shippen
825
00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:32,220
unfortunately, also becomes the last golfer
826
00:50:32,220 --> 00:50:35,880
allowed to play in the U.S. Open until the
827
00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:38,570
1940s. Next slide?
828
00:50:41,500 --> 00:50:44,330
Real quick, I know our time is short and I don't
829
00:50:44,330 --> 00:50:50,200
want to go over, but this dentist, George Franklin
830
00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:56,750
Grant receives all kinds of platitudes and
831
00:50:56,750 --> 00:51:01,160
respect as a dentist. His specialty was cleft
832
00:51:01,700 --> 00:51:06,350
palate patients, and he created and patented a
833
00:51:06,350 --> 00:51:11,480
prosthetics that would help cleft palate patients
834
00:51:11,480 --> 00:51:14,120
to eat well. He was also the first
835
00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:17,780
African-American faculty member at Harvard. We
836
00:51:17,780 --> 00:51:20,330
have Woodson, who was the second Ph.D., we have
837
00:51:20,330 --> 00:51:22,880
DuBois who is the first Ph.D., but the first
838
00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:27,470
African-American faculty member at Harvard was,
839
00:51:27,960 --> 00:51:32,450
was George Grant, and he invented the first
840
00:51:32,780 --> 00:51:35,210
golf tee, the first modern golf tee. There have
841
00:51:35,210 --> 00:51:38,180
been many iterations of it, but he is the one that
842
00:51:38,180 --> 00:51:43,180
received a patent for the golf tee in 1899.
843
00:51:43,370 --> 00:51:47,090
Unfortunately, he didn't profit from this tee, not
844
00:51:47,090 --> 00:51:49,550
that he was particularly interested in it, in that
845
00:51:49,550 --> 00:51:51,170
anyways. Next slide?
846
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:56,970
Finally, of those that have contributed, I'm going
847
00:51:56,970 --> 00:51:59,940
to skip into and delve into the 20th century
848
00:51:59,940 --> 00:52:03,480
with this man, John James Weldon Johnson, I think
849
00:52:03,480 --> 00:52:05,430
we've all heard of him. And if you haven't heard
850
00:52:05,430 --> 00:52:08,310
of him, you've heard of his song, Lift Every Voice
851
00:52:08,310 --> 00:52:13,190
and Sing. James supplied the lyrics, his brother
852
00:52:13,250 --> 00:52:18,290
Jay or John Rosamond Johnson, he supplied the music
853
00:52:18,650 --> 00:52:22,340
and by 1905, Lift Your Voice and Sing
854
00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:26,390
became very quickly the Black National Anthem. And
855
00:52:26,390 --> 00:52:30,320
to this day, most African-Americans recognizes as
856
00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:34,010
the Black National Anthem along with the American
857
00:52:34,010 --> 00:52:34,430
Anthem.
858
00:52:36,590 --> 00:52:40,310
Of late, there's been more than just talk that
859
00:52:40,310 --> 00:52:43,370
Lift Every Voice and Sing will become the American
860
00:52:43,370 --> 00:52:46,730
national hymn. Don't get me wrong on this, not the
861
00:52:46,730 --> 00:52:51,350
new American National Anthem, but the new American
862
00:52:51,530 --> 00:52:56,210
national hymn. Next slide, please?
863
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:03,050
So I want to end this talk very briefly with just
864
00:53:03,050 --> 00:53:09,540
a quick case study of what I call the radical
865
00:53:09,540 --> 00:53:14,280
path to Black History Month, but radicalism is in
866
00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:17,260
the eyes of the beholder, right? Little background.
867
00:53:17,460 --> 00:53:20,310
The 1940s, the 50s and the 60s
868
00:53:20,790 --> 00:53:24,210
witnessed the uneven expansion of Black History
869
00:53:24,210 --> 00:53:27,570
Week in the study of black history in general. So
870
00:53:27,570 --> 00:53:29,910
all the work that had been done is beginning to
871
00:53:29,910 --> 00:53:33,600
grow throughout the country. But let's take a much
872
00:53:33,600 --> 00:53:36,330
too brief chronology of one of the paths that
873
00:53:36,330 --> 00:53:40,320
Black History Month took. By the mid 1960s in
874
00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:44,100
places like San Francisco, in Oakland, throughout
875
00:53:44,100 --> 00:53:47,670
the Bay Area, in Chicago, and yes, Virginia. Even
876
00:53:47,670 --> 00:53:51,120
in Kent State University in the Midwest, college
877
00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:54,690
students were leading the activism against
878
00:53:54,690 --> 00:53:58,590
political, social, economic, and racial injustices.
879
00:53:59,130 --> 00:54:03,990
Not to mention the exploding anti-war sentiment
880
00:54:03,990 --> 00:54:06,840
that was blossoming and of course, the freedom to
881
00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:11,310
smoke a little dope. In November of 1967,
882
00:54:11,310 --> 00:54:15,780
a group of men came to Kent State on the
883
00:54:15,780 --> 00:54:21,220
invitation of some of these activists Black
884
00:54:21,220 --> 00:54:25,720
students, this group was called the Deacons for
885
00:54:25,720 --> 00:54:28,720
Self-defense. They were founded or established in
886
00:54:28,990 --> 00:54:32,230
Louisiana to protect Black people who wanted to
887
00:54:32,230 --> 00:54:36,340
vote, who wanted to just live a normal life, to
888
00:54:36,340 --> 00:54:40,420
keep from being hung, from getting murdered. They
889
00:54:40,450 --> 00:54:44,230
were armed and they were dangerous to anyone that
890
00:54:44,230 --> 00:54:49,750
tried to encroach upon black rights. By the winter
891
00:54:49,750 --> 00:54:52,330
of 1968, they spoke in the fall of
892
00:54:52,330 --> 00:54:54,460
1967, they were on the quarter system at
893
00:54:54,460 --> 00:54:58,120
Kent State. They spoke in the fall of 1967 and
894
00:54:58,120 --> 00:55:01,450
then by the winter of 1968 Black
895
00:55:01,450 --> 00:55:05,770
students organized themselves into a student club.
896
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:10,270
This student club was called the Black United
897
00:55:10,270 --> 00:55:14,410
Students and it remains that name today. Most
898
00:55:15,970 --> 00:55:19,630
black organized clubs are called the Black
899
00:55:19,630 --> 00:55:22,090
Student Union. We have obviously a Black Student
900
00:55:22,090 --> 00:55:24,490
Union at Moorpark College, and many of you have
901
00:55:24,490 --> 00:55:26,830
attended universities where you've always heard
902
00:55:26,830 --> 00:55:30,190
BSU, with this group then and even now, called
903
00:55:30,200 --> 00:55:34,180
themselves the Black United Students. With a death
904
00:55:34,330 --> 00:55:39,070
in '68 with key national figures. Our beloved
905
00:55:39,070 --> 00:55:42,040
Martin Luther King in April of '68 and the equally
906
00:55:42,040 --> 00:55:47,290
beloved Bobby Kennedy in June of '68, students here
907
00:55:47,290 --> 00:55:51,120
and elsewhere throughout the country began to
908
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:55,020
anticipate what Obama would later phrase, and, "We
909
00:55:55,020 --> 00:55:59,960
are the change we seek." So students begin to
910
00:55:59,960 --> 00:56:04,160
develop solidarity with the Black Panther Party at
911
00:56:04,160 --> 00:56:07,340
Kent State, and the reason for that is that the
912
00:56:07,340 --> 00:56:10,610
Black Panther Party was calling attention to in
913
00:56:10,610 --> 00:56:13,670
California to that the most racist, and the most
914
00:56:13,670 --> 00:56:17,120
violent, and the most brutal police force that they
915
00:56:17,120 --> 00:56:20,430
know of are the police are the police from
916
00:56:20,430 --> 00:56:23,470
Oakland, California. And as far as they were
917
00:56:23,470 --> 00:56:26,290
concerned, they needed to be stopped. Well, to add
918
00:56:26,290 --> 00:56:29,680
insult to injury to the time, Kent State
919
00:56:29,680 --> 00:56:34,180
University allowed officers or recruiters from the
920
00:56:34,180 --> 00:56:37,150
Oakland Police Department to come to Kent State
921
00:56:37,150 --> 00:56:38,200
and recruit
922
00:56:40,450 --> 00:56:43,570
students to become police officers in Oakland.
923
00:56:46,750 --> 00:56:50,680
When these recruiters came to campus, both Black,
924
00:56:50,860 --> 00:56:54,220
White and other students of color began to protest.
925
00:56:55,430 --> 00:57:00,740
Many students led by the B, by the B-U-S, they
926
00:57:00,770 --> 00:57:04,340
decided to take over the campus center and then
927
00:57:04,340 --> 00:57:06,830
once they were expelled from the campus center,
928
00:57:06,830 --> 00:57:09,890
they then walked from the campus twenty four miles
929
00:57:09,890 --> 00:57:14,570
away, or some of them drove to to Akron, where
930
00:57:14,570 --> 00:57:17,620
they set up what they called a university in exile.
931
00:57:18,140 --> 00:57:20,840
And while they were in exile, they began to talk
932
00:57:20,840 --> 00:57:24,950
about and to address racial, how to end racial
933
00:57:24,950 --> 00:57:28,370
discrimination, how to promote social injustice,
934
00:57:28,730 --> 00:57:33,260
and to promote a respect for black history, for
935
00:57:33,260 --> 00:57:35,180
black history and culture. Next slide?
936
00:57:39,330 --> 00:57:42,300
During these meetings at this at this exile
937
00:57:42,300 --> 00:57:46,080
university, the question kept coming up, germane to
938
00:57:46,080 --> 00:57:49,380
what we're talking about. "Why is it that only one
939
00:57:49,380 --> 00:57:53,190
week is given to the study of black history and
940
00:57:53,190 --> 00:57:58,480
51 weeks are given to white history?" The
941
00:57:58,480 --> 00:58:00,580
better solution, of course, as we all know, as
942
00:58:00,580 --> 00:58:02,530
Tammy mentioned earlier, is to have it all
943
00:58:02,530 --> 00:58:05,020
integrated, and when you read history, you would
944
00:58:05,020 --> 00:58:09,170
read about everyone black, brown, yellow. The
945
00:58:09,170 --> 00:58:12,980
university sanctioned, finally, after much
946
00:58:12,980 --> 00:58:16,220
haggling and protest, they finally sanctioned the
947
00:58:16,220 --> 00:58:20,390
celebration of Black History Month. And so Kent
948
00:58:20,390 --> 00:58:22,910
State becomes one of the first, if not the first
949
00:58:22,910 --> 00:58:25,520
that's in dispute. Kent State becomes
950
00:58:27,530 --> 00:58:32,780
the first university to offer Black History Month
951
00:58:33,080 --> 00:58:38,030
every month from February to 1970. Last point here
952
00:58:38,030 --> 00:58:41,210
is that the Kuumba house that you see to the left
953
00:58:41,480 --> 00:58:44,300
with the brothers standing on top of the roof was
954
00:58:44,300 --> 00:58:46,370
founded in 1968 during these
955
00:58:46,370 --> 00:58:49,670
years of protest. They fought for and got this
956
00:58:49,670 --> 00:58:52,910
center. The center becomes the college is the
957
00:58:52,910 --> 00:58:55,610
university's first Black Student's Cultural Center.
958
00:58:56,150 --> 00:59:00,070
And then in time it will become the African
959
00:59:00,110 --> 00:59:05,270
American Studies Center or today, the Pan African
960
00:59:06,020 --> 00:59:11,870
Cultural Center. Next slide. Finally, do the work
961
00:59:11,870 --> 00:59:15,080
of the National Association for the Advancement of
962
00:59:15,080 --> 00:59:20,660
Colored People and other lobbyist and promoters,
963
00:59:21,110 --> 00:59:27,530
Gerald Ford signed into law a decree, I'm sorry he didn't
964
00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:31,070
a law he signed a decree and essentially he said
965
00:59:31,220 --> 00:59:34,700
we can seize the opportunity to
966
00:59:34,700 --> 00:59:38,000
honor the two often neglected accomplishments of
967
00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:42,140
Black Americans in every area throughout our
968
00:59:42,140 --> 00:59:44,930
history. Thank you, folks. I think I ran over just
969
00:59:44,930 --> 00:59:47,330
a bit, but thank you so much for the opportunity
970
00:59:47,330 --> 00:59:50,630
to share some thoughts on Black History Month.
971
00:59:51,830 --> 00:59:53,810
Tim: Professor Hopkins, thank you very much for your
972
00:59:53,810 --> 00:59:58,280
presentation, it was wonderful. Next slide, please?
973
00:59:59,640 --> 01:00:02,940
We've been able to ask you to save the date
974
01:00:03,360 --> 01:00:07,650
because on February 26, there will be a
975
01:00:07,650 --> 01:00:11,610
conversation lecture with Dr. Cornel West, who is
976
01:00:11,610 --> 01:00:14,400
a philosopher and a published practice professor
977
01:00:14,400 --> 01:00:16,470
at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at
978
01:00:16,470 --> 01:00:21,450
Princeton University. He will be here on the
979
01:00:21,450 --> 01:00:25,470
26th. The exact time is to be determined,
980
01:00:25,470 --> 01:00:28,020
but this is one of those ventures where there will
981
01:00:28,020 --> 01:00:31,980
probably be some sort of webinar followed by
982
01:00:32,520 --> 01:00:35,040
probably something on YouTube. But we just want to
983
01:00:35,040 --> 01:00:37,290
make sure you save that date. There are also a series of
984
01:00:37,290 --> 01:00:40,290
other events that are occurring throughout Black
985
01:00:40,290 --> 01:00:43,590
History Month that are being hosted by faculty,
986
01:00:43,590 --> 01:00:47,570
staff, and our students as well. Next slide, please?
987
01:00:48,640 --> 01:00:50,530
I'd also like to take this time introduce you to
988
01:00:50,530 --> 01:00:53,740
the Black family of Moorpark College who are here on
989
01:00:53,740 --> 01:00:55,870
this particular slide and every aspect of the
990
01:00:55,870 --> 01:00:59,110
college, from the administration to staff, to
991
01:00:59,110 --> 01:01:04,660
faculty to admin. Also, we will be offering
992
01:01:04,660 --> 01:01:10,510
soon an African-American Studies course at
993
01:01:10,510 --> 01:01:14,010
Moorpark College, and we look forward to that. Dr.
994
01:01:14,020 --> 01:01:16,690
Hopkins, or excuse me Professor Hopkins is there anything else
995
01:01:16,690 --> 01:01:21,170
you'd like to add before we close out? [Ranford]: No, not at
996
01:01:21,170 --> 01:01:23,540
this time, I know we have a couple other things to
997
01:01:23,540 --> 01:01:27,560
do before we do. I'm fine. Thank you so much. Okay Tim. Next
998
01:01:27,560 --> 01:01:31,910
slide, please? So we're going to end this today
999
01:01:32,210 --> 01:01:35,030
and like everything else in my class. Please
1000
01:01:35,030 --> 01:01:37,040
have fun today. Enjoy yourselves, take care of
1001
01:01:37,040 --> 01:01:39,170
your families. Welcome to Black History Month at Moorpark
1002
01:01:39,560 --> 01:01:41,990
College and above all else, continue to be the
1003
01:01:41,990 --> 01:01:43,720
positive difference in the lives you touch each
1004
01:01:43,730 --> 01:01:45,740
day. And we're going to leave you with the Black
1005
01:01:45,740 --> 01:01:48,150
National Anthem. Have a nice day.
1006
01:01:50,180 --> 01:02:13,920
(Acapella sounds, ooh... do... dah)
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
1007
01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:31,400
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
1008
01:02:31,500 --> 01:02:49,440
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
1009
01:02:49,500 --> 01:03:06,040
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won
1010
01:03:06,060 --> 01:03:22,720
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
1011
01:03:22,740 --> 01:03:40,600
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
1012
01:03:40,700 --> 01:03:57,240
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
1013
01:03:57,280 --> 01:04:15,240
Out from the gloomy past
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
1014
01:04:15,240 --> 01:04:32,600
(Acapella sounds, ooh...doo...aah...dah...)
1015
01:04:32,800 --> 01:04:51,240
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
1016
01:04:51,260 --> 01:05:10,880
Thou who has by Thy might led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
1017
01:05:11,000 --> 01:05:29,600
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest, our hearts drunk of the wine of the world, we forget Thee
1018
01:05:29,620 --> 01:05:48,080
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our God
True to our God...
1019
01:05:48,090 --> 01:06:06,440
True to our native land
True to our native land
1020
01:06:07,930 --> 01:06:10,660
Tim: Thank you very much, everyone. Enjoy your day and
1021
01:06:10,660 --> 01:06:11,840
welcome to Black History Month.