History is key to understanding ethnic and racial relations.
Where we come from can have a lot of influence on where we’re going.
In observation of Black History Month, why not spend some time learning about your own and others’ backgrounds.
Harriet Tubman fled to the north in 1849 and proceeded to help more than 300 slaves reach freedom. But who were the people who hid her and those runaways?
Hattie McDaniel as Mammy in 1939’s “Gone with the Wind” was the first African-American to win an Academy Award, but do you know who the next one was?
Jackie Robinson integrated major league baseball in 1947, but who were the men who were willing to hire him?
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent activism rallied hundreds to fight racism through Freedom Rides and marches, and his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial inspired millions more. Do you know how Dr. King came by his methods?
While it is important to celebrate ethnicity, it is equally important to learn how our histories are integrated.Historical events cannot be taken out of context.
Read up on American, Hispanic, European, Asian and African history. They all contributed to who you are and the world you live in. Explore the lives of Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Latifah, Benazir Bhutto and Nancy Pelosi, Daniel Pearl and Ida M. Tarbell, Rosa Parks and Paul Revere, César Chávez and Mahatma Gandhi; Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel.
Your world will become a much richer place.