America’s slave history continues to haunt us even today, beginning with how it is taught to America’s children and youth in their classes in school.  The current approach contributes to unnecessary and continuing racial animosity, prejudice, and strife. How so? Basically, it’s taught merely and solely as a black/white issue with whites as oppressive perpetrators and blacks as oppressed victims. Unfortunately, that is, basically, a colossal lie—a lie that is seriously harmful.

Dr. Thomas Sowell, a black scholar and historian, has fairly and justly exposed the lie in his book, Black Rednecks and White Liberals. His chapter, “The Real History of Slavery,” should be published alone as a book and textbook on the subject of slavery. It would benefit so many and practically eradicate the racial animosities based on inaccurate and false depictions of slavery worldwide and nationally.  He wisely states: “The truth should need no apology, but the truth about the history of slavery is urgently needed for reasons that go beyond historical accuracy… From a narrow perspective, the lesson that some draw from the history of slavery, automatically conceived of as the enslavement of blacks by whites, is that white people were or are uniquely evil.”  This is a black scholar speaking, and he fairly, honestly, justly, and unbiasedly exposes a critical racist bias.

Image: Slave market in Cairo. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Thinking back to all my history classes from elementary through college, America’s slavery was never accurately taught. America’s history of slavery begins in Africa as to its origination. The black slaves sent to all the Americas were captured, kidnapped, enslaved, and sold by black Africans and Muslim Arabs. What is also rarely, if ever, taught is about the thousands of black slave owners in the South who treated their slaves as did any white slave owners. More black slave owners were in the Caribbean. Furthermore, five Native American tribes owned thousands of black slaves, three of which refused to emancipate their slaves after the Civil War and were forced to when signing a pact with the United States later.

In that chapter alone, Sowell uncovers the universality of slavery around the world and starting in antiquity. Slavery was practiced on all continents and by all races and the majority of ethnicities. Slaves were also of all races. Just consider the difference it would make if children were taught the unmitigated truth?  Black children would have no reason to hate white children, as people of their own race were also slave owners, capturers, sellers, and traders. Roots, the book and television series by Alex Haley, also promoted a false record of slavery. Dr. Thomas cites Mr. Haley as saying, “I tried to give my people a myth to live by.” He acknowledged Roots as a myth! Africans were not the innocents portrayed in his book.

Another man promoting not just a myth, but a tremendous falsehood is Ibram X. Kendi. He promotes an “antiracist discrimination” ideology; that is, discrimination favoring blacks and minorities to make up for alleged past “racist discrimination.” Critical Race Theory and DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity) make up his agenda. He insists that whites are oppressors and blacks are oppressed. Black and Native American oppressors are ignored or omitted. He recently left Boston University to join Howard University as its director of its new Institute of Advance Study. Sadly, he will probably continue emphasizing falsehoods omitting the enormous black role in slavery both in Africa and America. Black American students don’t deserve that either.

Neither American children nor adults benefit from myths or false narratives related to history.  One has to ask who best benefits Americans and American history, Dr. Thomas Sowell or Ibram X. Kendi? Dr. Thomas Sowell’s unbiased and honest treatment of history is exactly what Americans of all races need. His statement, “While the lessons of history can be valuable, the twisting of history and the mining of the past for grievances can tear a society apart,” is a truth to be addressed and pursued.