How has history falsified the hideous truth of the north? White people who lived in those times attempted to write the events that occured and twisted the reality of the north so that people would believe that, even though the United States participated in discriminatory acts, there were white people who lived in the north who didn’t justify those action. These pieces of information were passed down, changed, and in turn, included in history books that are taught in schools today. What is the truth? America as whole treated black people terribly. No amount of lies will erase the fact that the North participated in slavery; they dehumanized black people just as the south did. And what’s even more shocking is segregation originating in the north. History has made it seem as if the South were responsible for all acts of racism, which is true, however, the north also engaged in that systematic racism as well. The white people who lived in the north gentrified black communities, forcing them to leave so that they could turn it into something “better”. When black people tried to leave the hood to live a better life, they constantly harassed them, screaming at them with racial slurs, because they viewed themselves as superior. What does this show? It didn’t matter where they lived, in this time period, white people across America didn’t want to view black people as equals, so they to oppressed them. These lies have made people believe that America had a redemption arc. “They’ve done terrible things, but in turn they helped fixed it.” It makes it seem like the trials and tribulations that black people have faced are miniscule because the “Great America helped eradicate the matter. That is insulting to black people who live in this country; it manipulates us into thinking that we are exaggerating what happened. It’s disrespectful and that’s why American history has to be rewritten because a huge part of it lies on black people, their opression, and their contributions to society. As I grow up, I discover different truths to Black history and it disheartens me that in school it was taught to me. It was an erasure of my ancestors trials. Black kids deserve to know the truth; to know the hardships our community faced and how we were able to remain steadfast to accomplish our goals. We wholeheartedly believed in our truth and our power, and that’s what American history is, no matter how hard they try to erase it.
Author: Ninmah (Page 3 of 8)
“Myths About the Underground Railroad.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 8 Nov. 2013, www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/who-really-ran-the-underground-railroad/.
This article bluntly explains the truth of racism in the north, beginning with slavery. States such as: Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and much more, participated in the owning of slaves. Even American revolutionists (John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin), bought, sold, and owned black people and other prominent American “heroes” did as well. A historian named Joanne Pope Melish recalls a time in the 1950s where her high school textbook discussed slavery only occurring in the South. However, when she lived in Rhode Island after 1964, she encountered a vague reference to local slavery, and almost every person she asked knew anything about it. But, when asking the members of the historical society, they told her it was “brief and benign, involving only the best families, who behaved with genteel kindness.” Furthermore, although slavery existed in the north, it never reached the numbers of the south. Slavery played a huge role in the economy of northern states, but it failed due to climate and economy. It had little to do with morality.
The author includes an important statement saying, “The North failed to develop large-scale agrarian slavery, such as later arose in the Deep South, but that had little to do with morality and much to do with climate and economy.” Many history books today tell us that the north disliked the idea of owning black people, hence why it wasn’t rampant in the north. They also say that slavery did not exist in the North due to climate, and their way of producing money, which was factories. Yes, they were not able to create a full scale “operation” as the south, but they still participated.
In many current pieces regarding slavery in the north, it was always said that northerners detested the slavery, however, in the article, the author argues that “The elements which characterized Southern slavery in the 19th century, and which New England abolitionists claimed to view with abhorrence, all were present from an early date in the North. Practices such as the breeding of slaves like animals for market, or the crime of slave mothers killing their infants, testify that slavery’s brutalizing force was at work in New England.” This proves that some historians have turned the truth into something that they deemed appropriate in order to paint America as the “land of the free”. They admit to slavery, but they water it down by saying, the north abhorred how the south treated black people. They didn’t agree to their brutal style at all, but we see here that this was falsified to make it seem like slavery wasn’t as bad as what it actually was.
“When the Northern states gave up the last remnants of legal slavery, in the generation after the Revolution, their motives were a mix of piety, morality, and ethics; fear of a growing black population; practical economics; and the fact that the Revolutionary War had broken the Northern slaveowners’ power and drained off much of the slave population…Slavery lingered there until the Civil War, with the state reporting 236 slaves in 1850 and 18 as late as 1860.”
Sokol, Jason. “The North Isn’t Better than the South: The Real History of Modern Racism and Segregation above the Mason-Dixon Line.” Salon, Salon.com, 13 Dec. 2014, www.salon.com/2014/12/14/the_north_isnt_better_than_the_south_the_real_history_of_modern_racism_and_segregation_above_the_mason_dixon_line/.
American History creates an image of the north as the land for liberty. The actual land of opportunity. If you were to ask anyone their thoughts on northern history, they might tell you that they were an ally to black people. White abolitionists fought for the freedom of black people. The union fought solely for the purpose of the betterment of black people. The North was an amazing place for black people to live in. They were able to live as their own freely; no discrimination, so segregation. But the reality of it all is proven otherwise. The North has a sinister side to it, a side that the history taught in schools doesn’t expand on. Slavery had roots in New England and New York City and the history of the twentieth-century shows the horrifying record of racial violence and the segregated communities of white and black neighborhoods.
This article brings up an interesting fact, that I wasn’t sure was true. Sokol states, “…the centrality of African slavery in many northern cities, episodes of brutal racial violence like the New York City Draft Riots, or the fact that Jim Crow laws had their origins in Massachusetts.” In the PBS written article on Northern History, Margaret Johnson included a similar statement as well. I was a bit skeptical since it was a claim that I never heard of and because she did not include the specific state. However, Sokol mentions that segregation in fact originated in the North, specifically in Massachusetts. The south has a clear part in the racism in America, however, the pride and glory of America (the North) is just as guilty for the oppression of black people.
“Even when the rhetoric about liberty rang hollow, northern blacks could embarrass white leaders for failing to actualize this version of history. African Americans thus exposed the gap between the unceasing language of freedom and the inequalities that defined northern life.”
A written genre that can help portray the truth about racism in the north is a biography of a person who experienced it. Experience is a good way to draw the reader’s attention to the meaning of the topic. I believe that it allows them to imagine the circumstance and grasp the meaning of it. For example in James Baldwin, “A Talk To Teachers”, though it was brief, he explained the effects racism had in the North. He discussed the different neighborhoods that black and white people lived in, and that description in itself creates an image of inequality or disparity.
For this topic, I want to learn about the truth from black people of that time (in an old written piece) or black historians who have studied African American history. In my opinion, I believe that black people who have experienced that type of discrimination and who understand how detrimental it is should be the key sources when writing a piece that exposes the lies of American history. I think that these types of sources can be found on websites that specifically teach about African American history, black-owned or controlled websites, as well as websites that tell the whole truth regarding American history.
Recent Comments