Pain of 'Trail of Tears' shared by Blacks as well as Native Americans
Editor's Note: Tiya Miles is chairwoman of the Department of Afro-American and African Studies, and professor of history and Native American studies at the University of Michigan. She is the author of "Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom" and "The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story." She is also the winner of a 2011 "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation.
By Tiya Miles, Special to CNN
(CNN) - African American history, as it is often told, includes two monumental migration stories: the forced exodus of Africans to the Americas during the brutal Middle Passage of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the voluntary migration of Black residents who moved from southern farms and towns to northern cities in the early 1900s in search of “the warmth of other suns.” A third African-American migration story–just as epic, just as grave–hovers outside the familiar frame of our historical consciousness. The iconic tragedy of Indian Removal: the Cherokee Trail of Tears that relocated thousands of Cherokees to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), was also a Black migration. Slaves of Cherokees walked this trail along with their Indian owners.
In 1838, the U.S. military and Georgia militia expelled Cherokees from their homeland with little regard for Cherokee dignity or life. Families were rousted out of their cabins and directed at gunpoint by soldiers. Forced to leave most of their possessions behind, they witnessed white Georgians taking ownership of their cabins, looting and burning once cherished objects. Cherokees were loaded into “stockades” until the appointed time of their departure, when they were divided into thirteen groups of nearly 1,000 people, each with two appointed leaders. The travelers set out on multiple routes to cross Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas at 10 miles a day with meager supplies.
At points along the way, the straggling bands were charged fees by white farmers to cross privately owned land. The few wagons available were used to carry the sick, infant, and elderly. Most walked through the fall and into the harsh winter months, suffering the continual deaths of loved ones to cold, disease, and accident. Among these sojourners were African Americans and Cherokees of African descent. They, like thousands of other Cherokees, arrived in Indian Country in 1839 broken, depleted, and destitute.
In addition to bearing the physical and emotional hardships of the trip, enslaved Blacks were enlisted to labor for Cherokees along the way; they hunted, chopped wood, nursed the sick, washed clothes, prepared the meals, guarded the camps at night, and hiked ahead to remove obstructions from the roads.
One Cherokee man, Nathaniel Willis, remembered in the 1930s that: “My grandparents were helped and protected by very faithful Negro slaves who . . . went ahead of the wagons and killed any wild beast who came along.” Nearly 4,000 Cherokees died during the eviction, as did an unaccounted for number of Blacks. As one former slave of Cherokees, Eliza Whitmire, said in the 1930s: “The weeks that followed General Scott’s order to remove the Cherokees were filled with horror and suffering for the unfortunate Cherokees and their slaves.”
Although Black presence on the Trail of Tears is a documented historical fact, many have willed it into forgetfulness.
Some African Americans avoid confronting the painful reality of Native American slave ownership, preferring instead to fondly imagine any Indian ancestor in the family tree and to picture all Indian communities in the South as safe havens for runaway slaves.
Some Cherokee citizens and Native people of other removed slaveholding tribes (Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles) have also denied this history, desiring to cordon off forced removal as an atrocious wrong that affected only Native Americans. By excluding Blacks (many of whom had Native “blood”) from a claim on this history, these deniers also seek to expel the descendants of Freedmen and women from the circle of tribal belonging. For it is the memory of this collective tragedy, perhaps more than any other, that binds together Cherokees who draw strength from having survived it.
As a researcher whose work focuses on African-American and Native American histories, I have encountered this resistance. A few years ago, I spoke on the subject of Blacks in the Cherokee removal at a conference of the National Trail of Tears Association. One member of the audience, a Cherokee instructor of Cherokee history, insisted that this was an historical event only for Cherokees, a story that rightfully belonged to them alone. This is a view shared by a former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, who reportedly implied in a published remark that descendants of Freedpeople do not deserve tribal rights because they did not suffer the collective trauma of removal. The Trail of Tears is a sacred story to the Cherokees, as in special and set apart. It carries a meaningful lesson across time and space—about greed, injustice, and the perseverance of a people staring into a bleak and unknown future. However, a potent story shared with others is not necessarily diminished by the sharing; it might instead grow stronger in its ability to enlighten.
For Black History Month, I collected the opinions of individuals rarely asked about their view of the Trail of Tears: descendants of slaves owned by Cherokees. Common themes in the responses I received were pain at having their history publicly denied and pride in their ancestors’ ability to survive multiple trials.
Kenneth Cooper, a Cherokee Freedmen descendant and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has researched his family history through oral and documentary methods, has a great-great-great grandfather, Thomas Still, who walked the Trail of Tears. Cooper said, “At least one of my ancestors was on the Trail of Tears—by double compulsion. The U.S. troops compelled his mixed-white Cherokee owner, who compelled my ancestor to come and, presumably, provide for his needs.”
Terry Ligon, a descendant of Choctaw and Chickasaw slaves who writes a blog about the topic, was frustrated because “the typical story about the ‘Trails of Tears’ speaks to the horrors of uprooting ‘Native Americans’ from their homes...[while] the story that rarely gets told is the tears shed by people of African descent who were enslaved within these same tribes of ‘Native Americans.’”
Olon Dotson, a professor of Architecture at Ball State University, said his great-great-great- grandmother, Betty Mantooth Teichmann Childers Starks, was born to an enslaved woman en route on the Trail of Tears. When Dotson found out about this hidden chapter of his family’s history, he felt “angered and betrayed,” and his anger was not only directed at Indians. “The feeling of betrayal,” he said, “was derived from the customary portrait of American history, as taught and understood, which paints the Five Civilized Tribes merely as victims of cruel and racist policies with little or no mention of the African American experience in the context. I was prepared to pounce on any African American who felt compelled to express pride in their Native American heritage at the expense of their African blood.”
Some descendants expressed no outrage, but simply wanted the experience of their ancestors to be remembered and respected. Olive Anderson, a descendant of slaves owned by the Cherokee Vann and Bean families, feels proud of her ancestors’ bravery, both during Removal and the Civil War, when her great great grandfather, Rufus Vann, fought with the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers. “Let it be known,” she said, “that our ancestors walked, fought, loved and died to make this country what it is today.”
The Trail of Tears is an epochal moment not only in Cherokee history, but also in Black history. Descendants of slaves owned by Native people therefore claim this story as rightful heirs. Kenneth Cooper concluded in his remarks to me: “I don’t see how Cherokees...can separate the history of the tribe from the history of the Freedmen; they are irrevocably intertwined, before, during, and after the Trail of Tears.” The intertwined histories of Freedpeople and Cherokees, of African American history and Native American history, of all groups in this great and varied nation of ours, is a historical reality that may prove to be one of our greatest strengths.
The opinions expressed are solely those of Tiya Miles.
About In America
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We can sit here all day and point out the negatives. I see the point of the author describing injustices that are frequent in our nation's history. Slavery was an aweful practice pursued by many groups for many different reasons over the years. It is noteworthy that a group undergoing prejudice practice a different form in it's own circle.
Historically speaking, it was common for native americans to own black slaves. There were various reasons, but the treatment by native american slave holder was significantly different from the treatment by whites.
As there should be no offense to the whites out there today, American history has been mared by racial prejudice. Most of the time, whites are the ones carrying out the deed. To point fingers or get upset at this author is the wrong course of action.
Our history must be studied and remembered or we run the chance of repeating it.
Is it really necessary to try to latch on to the name of a specific, very real event that describes a historic event and try to gain some kind of pity points by creating a loose analogy? Native Americans have their own background and heritage, and it takes a stretch of sekf-motivated imagination to try to hook into it, and claim some kind of compatriotship.
Pity points? Do you think that's what its all about? I am African American and I'm not asking anything from anyone. I feel bad that this happen in history and so should you. I don't know your heritage but when you learn about whatever adversities your ancestors had to endure it will have an affects on you somehow. Maybe if you think of a time when your ancestors had to endure something, it can give you a point of reference on how this makes an African American or Native American feel. Yet, the problem African and Native Americans face is that a small number of the individuals who were our oppressors continue oppress us for no reason. Another issue is this, if your ancestors were oppressed and someone tells you, "No that was our deal not yours", that is a disgrace to the people who have suffered, not to even acknowledge their pain and suffering. As a person of color I don't want anything from anyone, no pity, no hand, no reparations, nothing but I would like to see these peoples place in history acknowledge, that is the least we can give them.
Watered down grape soda and not a KFC within eyesight....must have been horrible.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character."
– Martin Luther King Jr.
So, as I read this it seems that the "native americans" were just as evil as the white folk because they owned slaves too. Of course they don't want that to be common knowledge. That would tarnish their proud bla bla bla. But of course, it is fine to lay all of this on the white folk. That is way politically acceptable.
It looks to me like the blacks should be looking to some of that casino money for reparations. And given the native american's own history I would think that they would feel obligated to agree to this. After all, they both make a living now by because they are special groups that don't have to follow the same rules that the rest of us do.
You have to temper that with the dominate West African tribes selling their own slaves to other tribes and slave traders.
Most of the black slaves that were brought to America by mr. white were sold to mr. white by other black Africans.
@AcesFull. The selling of the slaves occurred with Mr.White standing there with a gun to encourage the sell. If you talk to actual Africans, you will find out the truth.
LAAW, I think it may depend on if any African Americans are around when the Africans are explaining it. I have heard some pretty awful things said by Africans about African Americans out loud and muttered under their breaths. The Mr. White with a gun was not exactly it. It was more around making a profit on selling individuals that were not exactly held in high esteem (basically people from warring tribes or lower class people from their own). One of my co-workers had a fit because he refused to fill in the form for race with African American. He said he was no !#$# @#$#@ !@#$#@ African American he was Nigerian. So he checked other.
White people need to start their own media so we don't have to tolerate all these anti-white tales day after day by the kosher parve crowd. DumpDC.com is a good non-biased source of news. Since it is a small minority who own most of America nowadays, we should move on from these past injustices to the ones being committed against us ALL everyday by the government they have bought. Who robs you 24/7? Who prevents you from defending your family? Who keeps you from advancing? Who tries to negate your hertage? Who regulates your business to death? Whatever color you are, we ALL have a common enemy.
In Fact the 1st slave owner in America was... BLACK. Thats right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Johnson_%28American_Colonial%29
Interesting factoid; I did not know that. And I know LOTS of little factoids. Learn something new every day!
Seriously, your quoting wikipedia? Please do better research. Ask yourself one simple question, how did the person of African descent arrive here to become enslaved? Check the dutch and their history. They carried more than wooden pointed shoes in their boats. On record 12 millon people were men women and childen were kidnapped raped tortured in the name of democracy and capitalism and you think a black man started it all? Nice.. Stay thirsty my friend
Soon the Cherokee found they had to build public housing te-pees for their freed slaves and provide them with free deer meat after the hunts even though the freed slaves did not go on the hunt. Instead they stayed home drank beer and played dice in the dirt.
Where do I begin? OK. First, if a white person from Africa legally migrates to American, becomes an American citizen, are they an African-American? How many blacks in America have even been to Africa? A very small percentage I bet. You have to remember that between 1865-1920, blacks were given the option to be returned to the country of thier choice at gov't expense. Those that stayed here did so of thier own choosing. Therefore, blacks in America are NOT African, thier forefathers made that decision for them. They are simple American! No other moniker needed.
Second, As stated, blacks were given a choice to stay in America or return to a country of thier choice. Native Americans were NEVER given that option. So there is no comparison between the two. And as was alluded to but not expanded on, blacks helped with the forced march.
Third, while slavery was outlawed in the US, in 1865, the US Gov't turned a blind eye to the selling of Native Americans into Mexican slavery. Again, something blacks were involved in.
Forth, this article is just another trash the white man. If you are going to tell stories, tell all the stories.
1800s: Ah,Yes, Mr Slavemaster -drop us blacks off in the south of France and we'll chat over a Perrier, and reminisce over our past misgivings. Tah-tah.
You make it sound so nice. Dont you?
MUH TEARS!
Should whites recall their indentured servitude, slavery at the hands of Romans, should Irish Americans recall English genocide? This article does little else than pay lip service to racism.
Nowadays the trail of tears is when they have to go to work.
LOL, I'll buy that for a dolar
Buy an education with your dollar first. 😉
Nope. It's all the whining non-blacks do whenever they don't get to enjoy their centuries-long privileged state anymore and have to work hard like the rest of us and actually come upon some type of adversity.
Native Americans owned slaves? All this time I thought it was just the evil White Folks.
Black Farmers had slaves too.
The Irish were treated worse than the blacks. How about Irish History Month!?!
The Irish get a day...and it's a helluva day!!!
Irism women weren't raped nor did they have to watch a child born to white looking get its had smashed in by the very person who fathered the child. Irish didn't have to watch their children, get taken from them and sold and never seen again. Irish still were at they very least allowed to keept their culture and their name, they were even allowed to learn how to read.
Look this up. Slave revolt at Webbers Falls. Slave revolt of 1842. Slaves were not considered family by the Cherokee. In 1842, after the revolt, the Cherokee removed all free blacks from their territory in Oklahoma.
Black......white......I'm still DEAD! And the worms are crawling through my eye sockets!
The bottom line is WHITE PEOPLE ARE EVIL. They have absolutely no empathy so why would they care about anybody other than anglo history (it doesn't matter to them.) The reason evil is allowed to exist is because white people are living on this earth. Wars, guns, drugs, greed and every single thing associated with evils was created by white people.
I SEE ONLY PEOPLE THAT CAN POST REAL COMMENTS ARE THE WHITE DEVILS SINCE THE WHITE DEVILS ARE MODERATING THE COMMENT BOARD.
So why don't you move back to a country where you are the majority? Let me know how long you survive before some tribe comes, rapes your wife and kids, and then tries to kill all of you? I bet they are not white?
HAHAHAHAHA! It's the 'white devils'!!! HAHAHAHAHA! You're really funny.
Wait is this another LZ Granderson article?..... oh no....
You know...I was wondering if maybe he just put on a dress...hmmm...
But I'm not white, I'm orange!
I'm a white devil? Well then BOO!
Yes, because most of the African continent is a bastion of peace and tolerance. Have you ever heard of Sudan?
Poor little pathetic downtrodden Kellee. The welfare check late this month?
I am the devil and I be doing your momma for years...Can you still suck the chrome off a trailer hitch??
KUNTA KINTE!!!
White Devil
Obvious troll is obvious...
Your check's in the mail.
The bottom line is WHITE PEOPLE ARE EVIL. They have absolutely no empathy so why would they care about anybody other than anglo history (it doesn't matter to them.) The reason evil is allowed to exist is because white people are living on this earth. Wars, guns, drugs, greed and every single thing associated with evils was created by white people.
Yes we are evil and to blame...and we're coming to get you...
Of course, which white people? What about darker toned whites or lighter toned blacks or asians? How about people with pigment issues like Michael Jackson? Or is it maybe just the the really white whites...like people from Sweden and Norway? What's up with that? Then there are those whites who work to get their skin darker via tanning. How can anyone trust them? What are they up to? Of course there are those who try to look more 'white' too through straightening their hair and using light cosmetics. What a conundrum!!!
I'm orange, am I evil?
Now you're confusing it more! I like orange, but is it a lighter or darker orange? I believe it may determine the level of evilness.
The irony is that you don't even realize the blatant racism in that sentiment.
Checked the news in Africa lately or better yet your local news? Evil belongs to no one group.
You mean SOME white people have historically been evil. Just like there have been evil people represented by EVERY race or ethnicity of people on the planet. The bottom line is that history should not hide ANY atrocities. Blacks with Indian blood SHOULD get reparations. Also the slaves of the Indians should be recognized and not hidden from history.
Ah, the reparations argument. I wondered when it would pop up. Compensate for the suffering of others those who do not and have not suffered and pay them with funds from those who did not commit the 'atrocity' nor were even alive during that time. I'm happy to say with confidence that it will never happen...nor should it. But kudos to all those who want to be given handouts...worth the attempt instead of taking responsibility for yourself, I guess.
I totaly agree.Its crazy that i came across this when im studying my family history.
Dude.... take a peek in Africa, they still are killing each other with whatever they can find.... women, children and anything else that moves. You are one F/U dude!
DuVermont'r
Dude.... take a peek in Africa, they still are killing each other with whatever they can find.... women, children and anything else that moves. You are one F/U dude!
Dude, take a look around you here in America. Young people shooting up schools, men killing their wives and children, teachers molesting their students and none of the ones in recent news are African.
What I don't understand is why you people become so hostile and angry whenever there is something on these boards relating to black people and the treatment they received? The fact is black people were treated horribly at the hands of whites in this country and we don't have to go back to slavery to find examples. Just because you people refuse to admit to your own history is very telling in itself. I wonder why you people are so threatened?
...and white slaves have been owned by blacks, blacks were bought and sold by other blacks, black people have killed white people for being white and vice versa. The only reason you haven't heard about the current round of atrocities commited by Africans against Africans is that it is not news that sells in the US. Try Al Jazeera or one of the Euro Zone news networks. There's not a single race or ethnic group that hasn't taken it upon themselves to kill those different then themselves, and it's a shame. So please, read up some yourself before you whine us all to death.
You are absolutely correct, so maybe you ought to hike your butt to Africa and live there with all the Black people who love each other so much.
So says the person with the White Irish name.... What a hypocryt..
I love the blakes, ask anybody!
I'm glad black history month is only 28 days long. Now get back to work!
black History Month? Ask 100 black kids who Harriet Tubman was, or Sojourner Truth. Or Dredd Scott, or who wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, or even what Political party that President was, and see how many have a clue. Or ask them who really went into Africa and gathered up the black people to be sold as slaves. Wasn't the white Europeans out there capturing blacks, it was the Arabs and other BLACK tribes who brought slaves to the coast to be sold. I'll bet they don't teach that in Black HIstory. And I'll bet they don't know that all those KKK members were DEMOCRATS. Duh!
Boo hoo, cry me a river.
it is very sad that everyone wants to forget... yes even our ppl have forgotten what others went through to get where we are today... but this message means also that thousands of lives have been destroyed due to the destruction of white america it seems all that they are good for is taking ...Yes there own ppl may have sold them to slave masters but , did the slave master have to offer such a high price he could just went on and did his own chores ... they came to this country stole from the people that was here first and then have the nerve to tell them they have to learn there tradion and become like them ...its sad that todays white ppl want us all to live and forget... and it takes articles such as this one to remind some of us how far we have come along ... and for the idiots ...dont be ashamed of your family tree ... stand up and print out what contributions your family did ...even if they are the KKK...be proud to show your stupidity this article is just showing the things your race did and for us all to remember what takers you actually are...
Your ignorance knows no bounds. People like you are no better than the 'KKK'ers out there. Educate yourself! 'Native' Americans came to N. America too...they came why? Following resources! In many cases, they exhausted those resources and moved to new areas. What did they do when another people threatened those resources? They fought for those resources. What is one reason that Europe blossomed and Africa did not? Resources! Central Europe and central Asia are huge areas for growing grains and such...good at sustaining a growing populace which helped with the advance of technology and ideas. The history of the human animal is pretty enlightening and exciting...more people should try reading about it.
Today, the trail would be different as they would be walking in their Nikes, holding up their pants with one hand while holding a Colt beer in the other and smoking a KOOL.
One knew after reading the first sentence that this story was gonna be BS. With reference to the "forced exodus" statement. They weren't forced they were SOLD by the tribal Chiefs. Sold as in for money. Thats what their own people thought of them. A forced exodus is quite different. God CNN is so full of BS it stinks and its eyes are brown.
Your statement contradicts itself. You said yourself that they were sold by their tribal chiefs. Surely you can't think the slaves WANTED to be sold. No matter how you try to twist it, they were FORCED to come here regardless of who was ultimately responsible.
In spite of the all the atrocities, I'd still rather be here than in Africa any day of the week.
ALL African American slaves endured a FORCED EXODUS in even coming to the North American continent. Just because they were considered property, does not negate the fact that they were still human beings who were FORCED into another exodus in the Trail of Tears.
Every race/religion/ ethnic group sees it's history through it's own distorted limited lense.
They were slaves, not unwanted beings that were marched across the continent in order to starve them to death along the way. They were slaves who were fed every day, probably not much, but they were kept alive in order to do work, not deprived of their way of life and any potential game they might kill in order to ensure their deaths while being marched under threat of death by firing squad (similar to what the Nazis did with Jews) just so they would be out of the way, their lands stolen from them and their progeny wiped out. But yeah, I guess dying like that is better than being a slave... At least a bunch of Chinese iPod slave-workers think so too.
Sorry for all of the typo's. I was on the phone at the time!
Ok, African-Americans were slaves. To me, it doesn't get any worse then that. Telling us that they had to move or clean or cook and face the deadly animals that approached caravan kind of goes without saying. I mean, they were SLAVES! ( When there are a whole lotta greats in front of your grandfather who was a slave, it kind of diminishes the pain and suffereing thatyou have had to go through.) To me it just doesn't make sense to say they were slavesd and then say that they were treatesd badly. Of coursse they were. They were slaves!!!!
They were slaves, not unwanted beings that were marched across the continent in order to starve them to death along the way. They were slaves who were fed every day, probably not much, but they were kept alive in order to do work, not deprived of their way of life and any potential game they might kill in order to ensure their deaths while being marched under threat of death by firing squad (similar to what the Nazis did with Jews) just so they would be out of the way, their lands stolen from them and their progeny wiped out. But yeah, I guess dying like that is better than being a slave...
I think that you missed the point! Yes they were slaves byt the Cherokees had the option to free them. It may would have been a bad choice if the option was present considering where they were but the fact remains that the "slaves" as you put it did go and suffered just as much. The Cherokees weren't the only ones who suffered and died so why is it only about them? I guess Napoleon was only half right when he stated that "History is written by the winners." What he should have said was "History is written by winners and losers who want to forget they lost."
Why stir up trouble. There are no more slaves and there are laws to prevent that from ever happening again. By writing stories like this you are stirring the pot and this could cause trouble. There are only Americans and anyone that thinks differently is a racist.
i agree with u to some point,but its important to know where u are coming from,to be focused on where you are going to
Most of these comments are quite amusing in their ignorance. I am a history buff and was quite enlightened by this article. I'd read several stories about the Trail of Tears, but never from this perspective.
That’s because the article is trying to adopt someone else’s tragedy and claim it for their own.
Another said attempt to justify modern day racism.
@Sean. They were just giving information about slaves. You people try to make it racism whenever someone wants to talk about slavery. Your guilt consumes you.
Let's not forget the Buffalo Soldiers, who earned great distinction for their heroics and gallantry while freely aiding in the extinction of the Native American ....
Just a little irony for those who enjoy that sort of thing.
sticksandstonesmaybreakmybonesbutdeedeedeeretardedbloggerswillneverpushmybuttonssoLMFAOmyfriends
CNN stirring up angry comments again. Why can't they just report the news and leave the history books to the historians?
We will continue to be divided as long as we keep identifying ourselves as hyphenated americans.
And "native" americans are simply the descendants of the FIRST immigrants. NOT??
he!! I am a "native" american... I was born here... 🙂
cheers
JusDav
I am proud of my hyphenated ancestory , and I have no problem with discussing racial/ethnic issues with any enlightened human being. What disturbs me is that wheneve articles like this are published, the racists come out of the woodwork to condemn attempts at providing insight and education.
There is a reason why we cherish and exhort our ethnic heritage. Because if we forget about our past, we are doomed to repeat it. Instead of trying to assimilate others into the dominant white culture by asking people to deny their heritage, why can't we learn to live together peacefully by apprecating one another BECAUSE OF OUR DIFFERENCES and not despite them.
Black Indian you hit the nail on the head. Yes, we are all American's and such but we all come from different back grounds (we are all mutts if you will) which makes us who we are. people need to embrace that and stop with all the stupid crap.
@ Black Indian
You are part of the problem sir.
You are creating a false association between a hyphenated name and ones heritage. I am of Irish decent but I am American period. I do not need a hyphenated name to ‘remember’ my families past. The idea that you think of American culture simply as ‘white culture’ further proves this remember this argument next time some hillbilly wants to put a rebel flag on the tag of his truck.
That's funny considering that I know more self-proclaimed "Italian-Americans" and "Irish-Americans" than any other group. Perhaps they should stop hyphenating themselves as well? Or maybe, as Americans, we have the right to show pride in our ancestry. Makes me wonder about why it is that someone could be offended by a "hypenated"-American in the first place.
@. Proud American
I’d be interested in knowing what part of the country you live in. I’ve yet to meet ether of your examples.(did we add an Italian in America section to CCN when I wasn’t looking or maybe an Irish history month?
No one has suggested a person “doesn’t have the right” however what they have said is that by doing so and other examples you continue to segregate yourself.
ohhhhhhh god... theres people arguing about white skin and black skin on the internet again ...these people really like talking about skin don't they
I cannot believe this is an issue that is even being discussed. It's just another rape on the Native America people in the U.S. I am the proud mother of a card-carrying Native American.
why is it rape....did Native Americans own Slaves or not? That is the question, my great great grandmother is part Native American...half!!! She never knew her father, everyone in my family knows why!! Why cant you people just admit it!!!
@LISA C
Short answer: yes they did, just as blacks did in Africa. But it’s was in smaller scale because their societies where still climbing out of the Stone Age. But be careful its only ‘cool’ to talk about it if you are referring to the evil white man.
What a shame that we're even having this conversation at this point in time. There are very likely as many or more Whites than Blacks or Hispanics or Others on our welfare roles all of which are enslaved by it and generationally. That is the true travesty, choosing less. But that is the way it is and oddly enough, I'm glad to be able to help with my tax dollars. Crazy but true.
To the author: Why are you so anxious that native americans share this tragedy with african americans? Why are you anxious to point out that native americans were slave owners? Are you trying to get revenge for the fact that the only reason that african slaves were imported to the new world at all was because native american slaves tended to die immediately upon captivity – they were completely unsuitable as slaves? The native american population practically annihilated by the european immigation – whole tribes were made extinct. What more do you want?
I agree! Time to move on people! GET OVER IT!
The only history you people like to tell and not forget is your own. Sorry, this is about someone else and it will be kept alive. That's history!
I think she wrote the piece because, it is the truth! Why must people deny events that actually happened? When a crime is committed, the perpetrator must be held accountable. I'm sure if there is some transgression that you felt happened to you, you would want those who perpetrated the transgression prosecuted for it. But, it often seems when it comes to African-Americans they are supposed to just concede that it happened and move on. The Trail of Tears is not wholly a Native American event, it is an event that encompassed the lives of brave, loyal, and decent African-Americans. So, accept the TRUTH!
Get over yourself Joe. I’ve yet to read a comment that says this never happened. The point is this isn’t a history class it’s a NEWs site and the author is trying to piggy back on other people’s tragedy.
Pat F....why cant Native Americans admit they own slaves....Native Americans just want to be a victim?
The article is intended to validate a significant, but terrible, part of our country's history. It does not diminish today's personal responsibility, which has nothing to do with our neighbor, co-worker, or person that we see at the grocery store. Sometimes people make me sad.
That's a nice statement. Thank you.
No disrespect to anyone who lost loved ones." How long are we going to remember 911 happening". Every year people are whining and crying about that. Get over it already!!! It happened and Osama Bin Laden is dead. Now, how does that make you feel!!!
@ Sasha
I tell you what…I’ll grab a survivor (or family member of someone who didn’t) from 9/11 and you grab someone from the Trial of Tiers and we can have a real conversation about whining.
You’re an idiot and in desperate need of some perspective
I have never seen this countrey so devided . united we stand devided we fall ...
Had Slaves not been BOUGHT by Traders from African (black) tribes they would be living in a hut in central africa fearing for their lives- will my children be chopped to death today or gang rapped by 20 oppostion soldgers. Blacks have it so good in USA that why so many who immegrate to US from Africa or Hati kiss the ground they are on & laugh at native blacks as they no not how good they have it
Racism Pays and many have learned to USE the RACE card to get what they want – LOOK at Obama
You got it. Living in NY and knowing immigrants and children of immigrants from Africa, and Haiti and other Afro-Caribbean societies, you are right. Most are hard working and grateful to be here.
Wrong! Had the European stayed where he was there would be less wars, crimes and punishment. Yeah, maybe Africans would be living in huts. On lavish lands with an abundance of minerals and resources. Or maybe they would be living in the beautifual palisades of Nubia and Egypt, that the greeks spoke about, admired and envied. Perhaps the Europeans would be living in large, cold, vermin infested castles raping and pillaging. Hmmm...it sounds like that hut wasn't so bad after all. Know history before you speak on it.
I agree in part with what is said but really Egypt was crushed by Rome and those people, both the arabic egyptians and the sudanese black egyptians lived in squalor until napoleon arrived. I think we can all agree that atrocities are not solely based on skin color, but also tha hatred based on skin color seems to be more prevalent. BTW cleopatra was not black, she was a descendant of Ptolemy one of Alexander's generals
Joe P. – you should take heed of your own advice and know history before you speak it. This is not the history of the white European male. This is indicative of the history of humans. The strong impose their will on the week. This has been going on since the dawn of history and very probably since the dawn of man. The reason Europeans were able to do it better than anyone else is because they had the technology, power, money...resources. Sorry to spoil your 'white demon' theory, but hey, whatever gets your furnace burning.
WILL YOU EVER STOP RE-LIVING YOUR PAST? JEWS WERE ENSLAVED FOR 5000 YEARS. THE WORD SLAVE COMES FROM THE 'SLAVS': SO WHICH IS 'SLAVIC HISTORY MONTH'? YES, WE ALL KNOW THE BLACKS WERE SOLD INTO SLAVERY. NOW, MOVE ON!
The issue is about the impact slavery has had on the black community. Legal slavery is over, legal seprate but equal is also over. however, you must agre that remnants of both activities still adversly impact the black community. Wealth, land, and education emmased in the later part of the 19th century to today continues to benefit many whites when many if not all doors were closed to blacks. Blacks are making progress, but too many are still impacted by the social ills that haunt our past.
We should not over-simplify this issue by saying that slavery is over, so everything is fine now.
Albro, not sure what you are taking about. Jews were not enslaved for 5000 years. Lots of bad stuff in jewish history, but 5000 years of slavery is not included.
Spoken like a true delusional white man. The south has only been liberated for 20-30 years depending on where you live. Jim Crow (aka Slavery) was alive a well in 1960 read up on your history.
Those who do not learn from the past are destined to repeat it. The fact that slavery and displacement have occurred for thousands of years to many different peoples shows that it's an innate ugliness of human nature. We can't forget the lessons of the past or else doom our descendants to the same fate.
So what will talk about is how WHITE people have tried to own everything everywhere!!! If white had not come to North America, the Native Americans would not be this topic!!!!
@Jamie Bates, Charlotte
>The issue is about the impact slavery has had on the black community
I agree. Like how they are in a much better position than the relative left behind in Arica yet they continue to use what happen to their ancestors as an excuse.
Slavery is wrong, then and now. Heartbreaking to have to acknowledge it as part of our history and heartbreaking that it continues today, but neither are exclusive to the US. Humanity can be cruel.
Give me a break! Again, it's all about the Blacks...Poor Me... Our "great" country tried to exterminate the Native Americans, not the blacks. At least slaves were worth something, but not an "Indian" person. Blacks always want to keep the race issue in front of everyone. The Trail of Tears dealt with the Native Americans, period. Slaves were just along for the ride. Let it go....
How dare you say that the Blacks just were on for the ride! Hello, they were slaves. They didn't have a choice to walk the Trail of Tears just like the Native Americans. What's interesting here is that it has been pretty much omitted out of the history books that Native Americans owned slaves. I happen to be Native American and in my community there is always a "The White Man is Bad Mentality". But they did the same thing that Whites did. Not to mention that Native American's have been given land etc to compensate for the injustices that happened in history.
WOW, After reading this commentary and reading the responses, this country still has a long way to go in race relationships. This article was written to me as a source of information but If one reads all the comments you would think we are still in the pre civil rights era Hmmm!!
My Sentiments exactly Jay. It's funny that they take the time to read the article just to find reason to complain about Black history. Also, those few aren't bold enough to say these things in public or at their job or they would get fired. They hide behind their usernames. SMH.....
Good, balanced, sensitively written. History is history, albeit when it's revisionist history. Native Americans needn't
fear they would be lumped with "slave owner oppression"- it was the context of the times ( as vile as it was). There was
enough atrocity placed on those tribes to overshadow any ignorance. Every minority group coming into this country has
to credit the Black populace with being the original "dues payer" who made so much possible for them to succeed and progress. As for the White populace, there should be zero guilt, but acceptance to put historical knowledge into their
present, personal info banks and never regress.
The most ironic part about all the comments is that people don't realize that the average person on welfare is a white single women with 2 kids in the midwest, working a low-wage job.
You are so right Mike.
First, slavery is wrong and prior to the illegal immigrants that got lost, slavery was not a way of our people. Second, it was not only Cherokees that indured the walk, other nations were a part along with Africans and Europeans. Lastly, we need to remember that history is written by "victors" in battles, not the "victors" in massacres. All history (red, black, brown and white) needs to be researched, oral and written, to understand that the same events have different truths.
@Bob and Right
No it aint Madden 2012 and Frito lays we would miss if we go back to Africa. What we would miss the most is banging your white women!
I read National Geographic. I don't blame you for asking "where the white women at"?
I don't find discs in the lips or rings around the neck or bones through the nose attractive either.
Hey it works both ways- shagged many a hot looking black chicks
Yeah, can't blame you.... I would not want to bang a black woman either
Come on...isn't this played out? Enough already. Newsflash; the President of the US is black! If just a third of the blacks (that still walk around touting their "trail of tears" from the white man) decided to focus their energies elsewhere (like getting an education and commiting to a life of hard work and integrity, instead of focusing on how their history and the white man is still keeping them down) then this country would be a different place. I'm sick and tired of seeing CNN and other media outlets substantiating the ongoning drama (that ended long ago). Put it in a museum and teach it in high school. I'm sick and tired of seeing it on headline news. I believe it's this ongoing "still-angry-about-our-history", basically white-racist agenda that is breeding a new generation of people with distain towards blacks. Quite frankly all of the people around me (several distinct, different races of people in my family) are sick of it.
I deeply feel that speaking about our history good or bad is good for our culture. If we were to stop talking about slavery, civil rights, Native American executions then we would lose who we are. I am hoppy this article was posted, because it's a history that should never be for gotten. It isn't to make people abgry, but to remind them that their ancestors went through HELL for no justifiable reason what so every and we need to humble ourselves. That's what this history means to so many people. No one should get over anything because it's moments like this that should be encouraging the world to be better. I'm never going to forget . . . never!
Say it LOUD QB...
White is normalized in this country. Until you understand that, you can't understand the need for these sorts of articles. Check out this PBS docu if your interested in truly engaging the issue:
http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm
That's just is...it's not taught in HS. I just did a workshop on white history month a week ago. All of the participants had no trouble naming famous white people in history (although the race of those white people were never mentioned in the history books). All the participants struggled in making a similar list for people of any color (asian, black, native, latino, etc...). When people of color are mentioned in text, its typically in response to some racial injustice. You would think all black people ever did was be slaves and then fight against racial and economic oppression.
The issues will always be brought up by those who recognize that their history is not included. If you and your friends are sick of it, take it up with the school systems in your area. Push for social sciences that reflect the truth about all civilizations (for better and for worse). Don't get frustrated at the people who call attn to this. (like this article-say what you want, but you didn't know about this, did you?) Get frustrated with an academic system that treats men of color (and white women – AND especially women of color), as though their contribution to history is negligible at best.
be easy moto
a black man invented peanut butter.
The only problem with only teaching black history in school some of you ignorant people both black and white alike will still be ignorant unless it is taught in its true form at home.
I'm sure they'd work hard and get those educations if they weren't surrounded by police 24/7 just waiting to find one buying a dime bag for the first time. One drug charge ruins a minorities chances of having a future. Is a dime back worth a person's entire future. Not likely. I'm white and have had cops very aware of the fact that I was possessing, yet I've never been arrested for weed in the 8 years I've smoked. Name a black person who's gone 1 year smoking weed with that record. I dare you. The racism still exists in our country just like Jim Crow laws do. It's just more difficult for people to identify said Jim Crow laws because we have really well educated politicians who know which tactics work, and which ones don't. The simple fact that people makes claims about the dangers of black communities is because white politicians made weed illegal. They saw it as an opportunity to create another Jim Crow law and astonishingly it has never been reverted, even since the civil rights movement.
"only now is an African-American history museum going up in the mall in Washington D.C. "
How long until it is covered in graffiti, trashed, has most of the things stolen from it, fights break out, and someone gets shot there?
I guess day 1.
Lets not forget about what the article is about, many blacks have no idea that there ancestors could be native american and a lot of whites do not know that there ancestors could be black or native american. As for those that say get a job etc, our white men are exactly like other races, we as whites are lazy, live off the government, don't pay child support etc,, we as white people are just as bad, we are not publized as the other races are,
I bet each person can name a lazy family member, someone that is not pay child support, cheating on his wife etc,
Trail of Tears was a late 80's early 90's emo band that just went up on the stage and cried all over their too small t-shirts and skinny jeans.
I have a problem with blacks committing crimes and living off welfare and living off food stamps and living off handouts and not trying to make something of themselves and not trying to get an education blah blah blah!!! Well, in 1981 when First Lady Michelle Obama's white southern roommate at Princeton University called her mother and told her that the university roomed her with an African-American woman, her white southern mother caught a fit and threatened to pull her daughter out of the school. Then the white mother told the university you know the races aren't supposed to be mixed like that and "thats not how we do things down here in Georgia? Well, I could just imagine the trauma and pain young Michelle had to deal with for the rest of her young college life. No, this wasn't the 1950's or 60's in the deep but the 1980's in Princeton New Jersey!
Fast forward 25 years later to 2006! In 2006 the Rutgers University Women's basketball team predominantly black with a black coach in C Vivian Stringer defied all odds and over achieved that season, taking their school to the Final Four Basketball Tournament for the first time in school history. Some of these young women were honor roll students who were also raised by single parents. But for their accomplishments and overchievements in 2006, they got the humilation of their lives when then radio talk show host Don Imus referred to these wonderful women as "Nappy Head Who*res." So as they say, damn if you do and damn if you don't!
Poor Michelle. Such a terrible thing, a young southern white girl not wanting to room with a sasquatch.
get a job.
If they want to be african they should go to africa and then they will see how good they have it here
Ain't no Madden 2012 or BBQ Fritos ...
Good luck blacky
Yeah but over there it's OK to rape, rob and kill and be an animal. Should fit right in.
I found the article very interesting. I'm native american (sioux). On occasion I've visited with several black people who were proud claim cherokee decendancy and this article helped bring this together. In visiting with our native american studies instructor after reading this article. I learned that after the civil war the cherokees in Oklahoma freed their slaves and enrolled them as members of their tribe. I'm not sure what the other native american bands did. Thank you. for your research it was enlightening.
You fraud.
Lakhota is another form, as well.
enough is enough. black this !!!!! black that!!!!!!!!! we have had it I wonder if African American will have had this much if they had been left in Africa.
By the way stop giving your children stoopid names laquifa and quilisha, they arent african or ethnic, just stupid! I have been deployed too parts of africa and no one has retarded a s s sounding names like that!
Then wonder why they cannot get a job.
Insensitive, but you are right!
On the grave of my sweet mother; I swear, there was child in the 4th grade class that was named LaTrine. I am not joking about this. I guess no one in the family remembered being in the army. I hope for her sake that she removes the La off her first name. Trine by itself should not cause her problems. My children knew what it meant. We all felt so sorry for her.
@Angela
So why are you on this page reading this article and posting comments after comments? Perhaps its because you have an interest in knowing more about your own history? let's face it Angela, these articles are not to cause pain or anger but to serve to make us better Americans because where our ancestors went wrong, we can take a different route and try not to repeat the mistakes of the past. As they say, those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.
And sure enough, on the night President Obama was elected to office, a black church in Massachusetts was burnt to the ground in retaliation of America electing its first African-American President. Then the tea party re-emerged on the political scene for the first time in almost one hundred years to say openly that a black man should not be president of the United States of America. And that's despite African-Americans enslaving for four hundred years helping to build this country from the ground up. And that is a people who were subjected to decades of Jim Crow isolation and brutality and lynchings and all sorts of oppression. Angela, lets' face it, the freedom of African-Americans came the old fashion way...they as hell earned it!
I don't know whether to laugh or to cry at your depiction of groups as racist – although I am not sure why I'm so distressed – you've pretty effectively regurgitated the talking points of CNN and the left. The Tea Party is not a reaction to Obama's race, stupid. Obama would nave never been elected without a boatload of votes from white people. Black population in America is about 12%. – maybe a bit more. The Tea Party is not now, nor has it ever been focused on anything except fiscal responsibility – an issue about which this president seems woefully clueless. I have never heard a Tea Partier say half the things I've read on this one site about blacks. Perhaps there could be a meaningful discussion about race, race inequality, and racial issues if a vast majority of blacks did not insist on calling everything from burnt toast to gifts of charity from Republican candidates racist. And also, if blacks would please stop demanding that I be sorry for the actions of individuals 200 years ago. While I regret that there was slavery, I know that without it, the number of blacks enjoying life in a first world country would be greatly diminished. My family was dirt poor – I mean dirt poor. My grandfather on one side of my family lost their home, my mother was homeless. My father's dad died when he was 8 and he had to go live in an orphanage. Those are terrible things. And they could have let them define their very existence. But they didn't. They becane successful, and their children did also. Stop letting your past define you. America – for all of its shortcomiings – is the only land in the world where you are defined by where you are going instead of where you've been.
How dare you make a comparison like this. Stop dredging up this type of stupidity. All it does is water down the issues of one culture to fit another.
I pay for thier food stamp, medical bills, welfare checks and children education, white america has given blacks much more then they deserve!
Wow! I also pay for their help as well as the white people.I work with social services and I assure you there are more whites on the system!
There are far more white people in America too.
Can you imagine if blacks were the majority? NOTHING would be paid.
Mighty white of you, especially when no one would sponsor an education for you.
@McGriffin
What's the point of CNN continuously running this kind of article? We all know the history from history classes you said? We you said? No, McGriffin, this sort of article is not to enlighten those of us who already know about our history but rather to educate and enlighten our young and upcoming generations. Let's face it, if our future generations are not taught their history, then they wouldn't know what to stand for and they would be lost because they wouldn't know anything about their own democracy. Its that simple!
Ask soledad o'brien
How come there is no white history month?
Because that would be racist.
We have white history everyday.
Really? Care to qualify that statement?
That means BACK IT UP
MAKING HISTORY and TALKING HISTORY = two different things.
If I'm not mistake, everyday that a child is in history class in school, it's to learn about the white man's history. Everyday we celebrate something, it's for white people. Once hispanics become the majority in this country in 2025, maybe us white people can get a minority holiday.
@Angela
If you have a problems with such articles written, shedding light on our American history, then why do we sing and play the national anthem? And isn't the constant playing of our national anthem to serve as a reminder of our history and of how this nation overcame trials and tribulations to emerge from the bombs bursting in air to see that our flag was still standing there and to eventually be the democracy we are today?
Are you farmilar with the Continental war that led to the building of our democracy? Are you farmilar with the words of our national anthem? Then don't complain when someone publishes an article shedding light on our history and the struggles it took for us to be the democracy we are today. And by the way, do you complain when the Jews talk about the Holocaust? I don't because they've earned the right to talk about the pain and atrocitiies that they endured in their past. And if others like you on this page have a problem with Americans shedding light on our history, then perhaps you can join Newt Gingrich's colony to Mars!
I only have a problem with articles continuing to separate Americans skin color... Lets move on Americans! But I guess others can not. They would rather live in the past! Fine continue to do so, live in your great grands history, be depressed and sad, instead of living in the future... Talk about digging up bones.... My gosh haven't all of our ancestors been through enough already! Now we make them live through it over and over and over!
I had to yell at a group of black thugs who wore their hats sideways and didn't take them off during the anthem at a Bulls game.They looked at me and snickered.Most blacks have a good life here compared to how they would have it in their "mother land"but they still talk about how this country sucks.The only way i would call a black person an african-american is if they could find Africa on a map...so far no takers.
Naggers.
"And by the way, do you complain when the Jews talk about the Holocaust? I don't because they've earned the right to talk about the pain and atrocitiies that they endured in their past. "
Try try telling them that the fact that the holocaust was about more than Jews being killed and see how far that goes.
Crap happens! Get over it and get on with your lives! Remember, if you keep slowing down to look over your sholder to see if anyone is catching up with you, they will!
Yes, I feel deep sympathy for the blacks who had to endure the harsh lives of slavery, but, I do not feel the least bit of sympathy for the blacks of today who, for the most part, don't work, eat off of food stamps and live off of whatever else the governament can give them. There is black history month, black colleges, black beauty contests, a black magazine. . . if us white people had all those things we'd be called racist and the blacks would cry discrimination, different laws for different races?
I couldn't have said it better.
Bobby how can you be so ignorant? Still repeating that old tired Ronald Reagan republican stereotype. It is clear that you are void of knowledge or education about the two thirds of us prosperous African Americans. For your information the majority of people living on public assistance are white and they are getting poorer by the day. Individuals like you are going to suffer in the years to come, the same as many people of color on this planet.
This is going to be an Asian century and there is nothing you people will be able to do about it short of creating more wars due to the fact that you all will not be able to compete on their level. You should be careful how you disparage people. Remember, “as goes the black man in this country, so goes the white man". People with a mentality like you are so yesterday!!!!
For the most part, blacks work. But you are sitting at home making these comments. Take a deep breath, and have a little more respect for the history of all Americans. The flag is made up of different colors and lots of different stories.
"But you are sitting at home making these comments. "
1. You have no idea where the poster is when he or she posts.
2. Where are you?
May God have mercy on your soul.
May he bless you with compassion, understanding, and love for your fellow human beings.
May he open your eyes to your darkness and negativity and save you from the path of destruction.
There are way more white people on public assistance and food stamps than blacks. Get your facts straight
There are also a LOT more white people in the country.
By percentage of population, blacks exceed every other group.
Look at the percentages of public assistance PER CAPITA.....if you know what that means...then get YOUR facts straight.
Commenter Bobby wrote, "I do not feel the least bit of sympathy for the blacks of today who...don't work, eat off of food stamps and live off of whatever else the government can give them. There is black history month, black colleges, black beauty contests, a black magazine. . . if us white people had all those things we'd be called racist.."
White Americans do have all of the things listed in Bobby's comment: their own history months (the entire year), their own colleges (most universities), their own beauty contests (most beauty contests), and their own magazines (most magazines). The reason groups who are not white have magazines, universities, and contests that cater specifically to their groups is because most of what is considered American culture targets mostly or only white Americans. So, for example, there wouldn't be any point in creating a magazine targeting white Americans since most magazines are tailored to the interests of white Americans. That's true for most universities, most beauty contests, and honestly, most businesses. Part of that is because the US is about 70% white and part of it is just the historical tendency to exclude people who aren't white.
The rest of Bobby's comment about how black Americans don't work and/or collect government benefits isn't true. If you, Bobby, go look at the US Census website, data shows that the vast majority of black Americans (in fact, the vast majority of all Americans regardless of race or ethnicity) are employed. Most black Americans are not collecting any government assistance (FYI: Food Stamps and Welfare programs don't exist anymore). I'm not sure where the idea that most people of color don't work or that most people of color are living off government assistance comes from since it has never been supported by any government data. Most government assistance (WIC, Medicaid, EBT) are given to white Americans. It's been that way since these sorts of programs came to exist. You're welcome to check government records to check.
"Food Stamps and Welfare programs don't exist anymore"
Only a black person would know this.
@Really
No an educated person would know this since it's been in the news for the past 12 YEARS that most states were fazing out the welfare program. Don't forget Grandma is on welfare if she collects SSI and uses medicare or if your kids are on the free/discount lunch program at school! People who read know these things.
"For the most part"? "For the most part"?!? While there is a segment of every racial group that is lazy and on the dole as you describe, on what basis do you justify painting "the most part" of African-Americans with your slanderous invective.
I have no idea why the italics went crazy like that.
And us as white people have all of that you described and we are all of the things that you described about blacks. We are lazy, on well fair, dont work, dont take care of our children, etc. we as white people are just not as publize as other races, so don't think for one minute, that your fellow white man is better than the next.
Wonderful and enlightening article. The history of our country is both heroic and tragic. So many people poured their souls and very lives into the making of this country. We spend far too much time sugarcoating or ignoring the realities of our nation's history.
This quote says it all:
"Let it be known,” she said, “that our ancestors walked, fought, loved and died to make this country what it is today."
Amen.
And people still work, fight, and die to make America what it is.
I can't stand the fact that many want to get rid of our history. Every American should be proud of the history of every other American, because it is that history that can bring us together. The worst comment I have heard in the last few days was made by Rick Santorum, who said that people should not go to college. It is not the "liberal" professors one meets in college, but the history books, many of them conservative, and without college people would only have the most superficial knowledge about America. Without college, people do not have the knowledge to conduct business in their town, county, state, or the federal government; more people should be involved in civics, not less. It is the lack of history taught in schools that leads to government that does not fit our needs. Mr. Santorum should be begging every person to study, but it is unfortunate that he wants us to give away our heritage and not own it, perhaps replaced by a dictatorship, and another trail of tears.
i am eugene billy i saw the name billie or billy on the dawes roll i am afro american from sc that my people are from,there are people in the seminole nation with same first and last name a my family.i would like to know if there is a relatonship you have my e-mail how can i contact you i am doing my family history we are very large family.
We need to see history in its broadest context. No one "owns" their history, but those who get to tell it have the power to use it to enlighten or to obscure. An object lesson for us all.
A shameful event in American history..
Da white people done it again.Its all da wite peoples falt.
TheThe White fault.
There I corrected the spelling for all those who are gonna comment about that.
Why is it when someone posts some story about slavery or some other atrocity that its always all the white peoples fault.BTW it was the Indian who suffered the most the Blacks were sold into slavery by there own people.Why don't we ever hear about that part?
/
I am almost ashamed to say I'm a white person. You rascist bas tards have no kind of soul. How would you feel if you were suddenly ripped from your families, transported thousands of miles to a foreign land and treated like animals just because you looked different and spoke different ? Yes the black people have had a terrible journey and I for one can't even begin to know how their ancestors felt. It's a true shame that your parents never taught you about compassion. But you'll get back one day what you've put out. Then you'll be asking, What did I do ?
Abolition of slavery began at the birth of the nation not just the Emancipation Proclamation and the eventual 13th amendment. Free states competed with slave states for power. The fact is that black on black slavery plus the muslim slave trade in africa was the starting point of the Middle Passage. European colonization brought it to America where it was quickly rectified after the revolution when you think of 1176 – 1863. 87 years is about one life span of a modern person. This is incredibly expedient when comparing it to the history of the western world. Acquisition of land from Britain after the war of 1812 and Louisiana purchase gave Americans right to the land. Native tribes had fought each other and slaughtered each other hundreds of years for right to the land and Americans have done the same. At least Americans made attempts to give lands to Indian tribes instead of the out an out slaughter.
Correction 1776-1863
Don't try to justify evil or smooth it over with other evils. Since you mention the history of slavery, don't stop there. Go into how all slaves where treated. Explain how one was indentured servitude and allowed to become free and inter-marry compared to others that lynched. Explain the promises of removal of an enemy tribe and promises of goods. Then explain that once demand kicked in that it didn't matter the tribe. Go on,....explain it. You won't, because you only give surface truths. Just enough to cover your conscience.
where = were
The Biblical selling in Genesis of ones' self for several years to earn enough to buy property is not the same at all as what happened to the blacks: they were not sold next door by Muslims, but far away, couldn't get back home, and were sold for life and for the lives of their children, grandchildren, etc. In the Bible, when an unfair form of slavery happened to the Hebrews, God sent Moses to take them to a promised land. But if you look at the research of the DeWolf family (children of former slave-owners and traders), you find that the slave trade in America continued long after it supposedly stopped; Thomas Jefferson looked the other way as slave ships came into Bristol Rhode Island. Then, after the slaves were emancipated, there were many cases where the blacks still had to work for free, or they would not find any work and would starve. In the Great Depression, my grandmother had to lay off a servant, but there was no work, and my grandmother agreed to pay her in food if she could still stay with the family, and she continued to work for free. It is an embarrassing part of my family history, but was because of the hardship of my grandmother who was a widow in the Great Depression, and there were many such cases. People would not hire blacks. A sign could say "No Irish Need Apply," but it was easier to pretend not to be Irish than not to be black. The history is appalling. And most people forgive, but it is wrong to expect or even wish for anybody to forget. There are museums dedicated to many groups in America, but only now is an African-American history museum going up in the mall in Washington D.C. It is about time. My family is old-American white, and I want all of the history remembered. If you don't, maybe you are not American.
You should read the book "Slavery by Another Name" it will tell you how slavery continued untill well after WWII.
White people should never be ashamed of their color.No race is perfect.But let's also remember that whites have helped blacks acheive freedom in this great nation.Blacks have done nothing to better their race.They blame white people for all of their ill's in life and most (not all)depend on the goverment to take care of them.Also blacks need to remember who sold their people to the new world,it was their own color who led them onto the slave ships.Lastly,If Whites had White history month we would be called racist.I for one am a proud White man and no one will make me feel ashamed of what a small group of rich white people did over 100 years ago.Get over it already and move forward black people!!!
May the Lord forgive youl.
May he shower upon you compassion, sympathy, and love for your brothers and sisters.
May he open your eyes to your darkness and negativity and save you from the path of destruction.
Can you look in the mirror and say that? I'm black and I WORK!!!!! Have worked since I was 20 yrs old. And those lies about Africans selling Africans... boy STOP! The Dutch, The French and The European were responsible for those atrosities! Stop trying to water down YOUR history to make YOURSELF feel better! And if you don't believe you have white history YEAR open up a history book and tell me how much history is written about Blacks and Natives!. And then do a search on inventions by blacks in America! And tell YOURSELF again how no blacks have done anything to better ourselves.
It was Trail of tears because Jackson marched the INDIANS across the country, and the blacks just found a spot to push their selves in. Wonder who the answer to Shaprton or Jessie was back then?
If you are ashamed to be white, then say you are French.
The "Trail of Tears" was likely the most horrific injustice in American history. Another group overlooked in the historic trek, were the Christian missionaries who voluntarily moved with their Christian natives and the slaves. Let us never forget that it was Andrew Jackson, "Father of the Democrats" (a slave-owner himself) and his party's majority congress that passed the "Indian Removal Act" which enabled his Democrat successor, Martin Van Buren, to force the Cherokee, Muscogee-Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole people (also known as the "five civilized tribes" from their homes and farms. Let us also not forget that it was Republican President Abraham Lincoln that set the slaves free.
This is of course correct, but don't forget the parties changed platforms in the early 20th century. The Republicans of the 1800s would easily be considered the Democrats of today.
Absolutely. There was so much crossover in names of the parties and ideologies that it's a mistake to equate a 19th century Democrat to a present day one.
I agree with Amanda and Anne. The U.S. Supreme Court of that time, not known for their tolerance, ruled in favor of the Cherokee. But Andrew Jackson said that they could not enforce their ruling; which meant that the Executive Branch failed to follow a ruling of the Court, and which also means that he was a dangerous dictator. However, he was popular because he had helped defeat the British in the War of 1812 (which was a difficult war, not covered enough in history books, from which the National Anthem came). The 19th century was full of men like Andrew Jackson; hopefully, all of us are better than that.
I am wondering when we all will remember that our trail of tears started for all of us much longer ago than all of this. We all, no matter what color we all are have had our trail of tears...why in the world in the last 100 years is it that color seems to matter? As long as we keep adding our skin color to anything there will be groups, clubs, gangs, government, country's and people supporting only one skin color or another. And in America What happened to "We the People"? Not we "only a certain skin color". Have you heard the saying the ones usually in the wrong are the ones screaming the loudest? Love your neighbor as you do yourself, nope no skin color there either. I dont care what GOD you believe in I am sure hating others purely for skin color is not accepted.
When Black or Native American people speak about their experiences or history, white people often feel compelled to protest that 'white people suffer too!' or to ask, 'why does anybody have to mention race?' Why do we do this?
1. The polite and generous thing to do when somebody speaks of their pain is to listen with kindness, and refrain from trumpeting our own pain. Black and Native American pain does not negate white people's experiences of pain. But it is not the same, and this fact does not need to be erased. We can listen with compassion and love. If we do, we will cause healing energy to flow in the world.
2. People speak of race because pain and suffering was apportioned by race and class in America for centuries, and thus this is a part of our history. Unfortunately that history has not gone away because it has not been dealt with. If we refuse to listen, it never will be dealt with. And, that 'history' is still in effect. Witness, for example, the extreme poverty conditions that Native Americans are subject to. Witness the millions of black men who are thrown in jail for long terms, while white men who commit an identical crime do not suffer that same fate – if you don't believe me, please look it up, or read 'The New Jim Crow.' A great book that deals with this issue.
3. In other words, nobody held thousands of white people as slaves. Nobody removed millions of white people from their homes in America, or stuck them in concentration camps. This is not to say that white people have not had their sufferings – but they have not been punished as a people because of their race.
4. When a people is traumatized, they need to deal with their history of trauma in order to heal. We as white people might well listen to the stories of pain and trauma told by Black and Native American people, and then, consider how the terrible traumas done in OUR NAMES and for our economic benefit, have also damaged us ethically, morally, and emotionally. Even if we did not do those deeds ourselves, our homes, our businesses, our towns and cities literally benefited economically from the web of commerce woven by slavery and Native American removals. Our homes are built on land taken from others, and many of our structures were built by people who did not own their own labor, and whose bodies and lives were sold at a profit – profit was passed down the generations in white communities, one way or another. Yet, all this injustice cost us the wholeness of our own souls as white people. And I believe this is why we do not want to hear about it. But burying truth will not make it go away.
5. So why not listen with love and compassion when fellow Americans speak of the injustices and sorrows they have suffered – and learn. Those who have been perpetrators of pain, or the children, or community-members of those perpetrators, also suffer spiritually. But we can't heal that suffering unless we listen, and look at history with an honest and open eye.We may find our own healing that way – not guilt, but real healing based in knowledge and honesty. We will also give an ear to those who are speaking, and help their healing.
6. If we do that we CAN make that world where all America is one, and all people are sisters and brothers. But we can NOT do it if we try to silence our fellow Americans when they cry out to let us know of the injustices they have suffered.
So let's have some humility and listen with our hearts open. Be brave in your love, and your love will conquer all.
Yes I agree, so lets start with everyone remembering of the slavery that Moses saved us from! If we are going to go back in history then lets go back. In everyone's history, no matter what color your skin is, or for that matter every skin color has had their share of slavery. I have given an ear to it my entire life. I am almost 50. I think after all those years its time to move on for everyone. But, all I see is a certain group of people still screaming that they are being unfairly treated. I have seen a white man treated more unfairly than 100 black men for a certain child abuse crime. So that point is null and mute to me. In every race someone is bound to be innocent but sentenced guilty anyway. Life is not fair. We all know that. We all are not even told that it is. My point is the more articles that tend to keep us further apart as a nation just fuels the fires. None of us are free from sin. We all dislike something. But lets keep it to things have to do with things of the present. Our ancestors are dead and gone. I nor anyone else are not responsible for theirs sins. Some did good things while others did not. Why in the world does it make a difference now, right now? Is it going to change the way you walk through your daily living today? Would you do anything different because of what your great's did 200 years ago? Surely, you would not be in deep dark depression because they owned slaves. For them it was normal for that time, as it was in Moses's time. Lets do some articles on how each one of us can do more for each other, give more love to our families and make a better country for ourselves. Ask not what your Country can do for you, Ask what you can do for your Country!
I agree with much of what you have said. I think the problem is that it some times comes across as the individual is being blamed or responsible for what they had no control over. I also think it is wrong to deny another person's suffering as not relevant. Victimiization of people is unfortunately as true today as it has been in the past. Widsom is a difficult to achieve.
You have a beautiful soul.
i am so glad to have read your words. You are wise beyond many and you are a force of positivity and healing.
You are truly beautiful and I hope to be surrounded by people like you all of my life.
I am in awe of your soul's development, truly wonderful.
May the Lord bless those who would read your words with wisdom to apply their meaning.
@ann
YOU are not being blamed for there not being a written history of slaves owned by the Cherokee nation or your ancestors. The difference is NO one saw fit to write about black history or Native American history until recently and it's still piece meal. Do you not celebrate your culture? Past and Present? a recipe past down? a lesson taught that still continues in your family? a story told about great-great-great whom ever? Would you not share that past knowledge down to your own children? or friends? Why can't EVERYONE share their past and present good AND bad? I don't understand why white america feel so offended when slavery is brought up TODAY what are YOU feeling guilty about as some of these hateful post state White Americans have given us MORE than we deserve!!!! You as a person today are NOT being blamed for what happened in the past but you WILL be called out for not wanting others to know about it in the present. The color of ALL of our skin will ALWAYS be there it's what makes US as a HUMAN race beautiful and unique.
@Angela, so we should leave the past in the past? Does that mean you won't be reading your bible any more? After all, that nothing more than a book full of old stories also, right? We should just chuck all that and only live in the present. Right?
Yes...
Angela will be reading hers...but not posting a story on line about skin color that causes American's to split. My point is we all have had our trail of tears. Laws were made to stop slavery.. History needs to be taught in school. Why must we continue to post such controversial articles. Post articles that bring America together has been my point this whole time. And you are just trying to pick me apart. I am sorry all these ugly things of the past have happened. Much less things happening in our day and time. But the more we feed division, the more it grows.
I think it is also just universal that people want to know their history and in cases where it has been swept under the rug have their ancestors who lived and died sometimes under horrible conditions recognized. That truly sad part is that slavery is still going on in a large part of the world.
Knowing one's ancestors (history), as well as our country's history, not only enlightens us but prepares us for the uncertain future, hopefully to avoid the same mistakes of the past and repeat the positive acts of our past. We're still evolving, and change is definitely slow. Thank you for the article. William Kantz(?) wrote a lot about Black Indians and Black Cowboys for those interested in our African/Native American connections. Finally, for my Black brothers and sisters, take Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s approach to ignorance: Do good to those who hate us; love them anyway. Pray for the poor soul who's full of hate. America is a better place because of our shared sacrifices: white, red, yellow, brown and black.
Well said!
Knowing ones ancestral history is ok but why wear it on your sleeve. Enough is enough. My ancestors were captive at times and I am a white man that holds no race responsible.
To Gager: Don't try to understand because it's just above your head!
What's the point of CNN continuously running this kind of article?
1) We all know the history from history classes. Hearing it once is enough to make us recognize the bad things our ancestors did, to feel bad that they happened, and to learn not to repeat those actions.
2) There is nothing we can do to change what happened. Repeating this stuff ad nauseum will not make things better for the people that suffered.
3) Neither the people that carried out these terrible actions nor the people that endured them are alive today. Guilt and indignation over this history are both misplaced and pointless. No one alive is responsible for these tragedies.
Frankly, this kind of article wreaks of an author who feels their race is not getting enough attention (glomming onto the Trail of Tears for Black History Month – really?) and who cannot forgive people for the crimes of their ancestors. If white people ran these kinds of articles, or indeed had a "White History Month," there would be outrage. White people as a race certainly haven't endured great calamities in America, but neither are those that inflicted slavery or genocide still alive. Stop trying to make those of use who are alive feel bad for things we didn't do. Thank you.
Well said.
Thank you.
"What's the point of CNN continuously running this kind of article?"
Cultural Marxism. It's what the cool kids are snorting these days.
Get over it!!! Geez!!!
Would you feel that way if say 80% of American history was removed from the history books? And before you say no one is alive from slavery you should also read "slavery by another name" Where it shows that forced and free labor was implemented with false imprisonment with long prison terms and high fines to acquire free labor from supposedly free black americans well into and after WWII. But you don't want to know about those things we should just get on with our lives. Do you post the same comment when they do a survivor story about the holocaust (sic) victims? And how are we to move on and get over it when most of you are still angry that your president is black?
I think you raise an interesting question about why CNN would post this article, given that many of the comments assume a particular motivation behind the reporting and base their reactions more on that assumption than on the article itself.
I'm also curious about whether most people did learn about the history of slaves on the Trail of Tears. Miles actually raises the issue of how history is commonly presented in the beginning of this interview, when she remarks on the centrality of two large migrations to the popular narrative of African American history. While she argues in this interview that the Trail of Tears represents an important third migration that merits more public attention, her book "Ties That Bind" also highlights the importance of particular, personal histories that challenge the broader historical narratives of migrations and removals that we are generally taught. Given that the article concludes with the stories of individual descendants of African Americans who traveled the Trail of Tears, it seems to me that Miles's project–in this interview as well as her book–is more about complicating historical generalizations with personal narratives than it is about pushing a particular political agenda. As for CNN's objective in publishing the interview online, might they just be looking for interesting projects from current scholars that can add new dimensions to the conversations taking place around Black History Month?
This was an enlightening article for me. American bloodlines are very intermixed.
Yes here we go again. The only people in America that can claim victimhood are African Americans. If Native Americans for one minute begin to think they have a claim to any such status there are always the good folks in the AF AM community ready to give them the smack down. Anyone who suggests that the ownership of slaves by Native Americans would have been rare is a "Holocaust Denier". Does the whinning ever end? Hopefully it will subside a little March 1st.
Seriously. I think the month is really just an opportunity for authors who happen to be both black and desperate for attention to get someone to listen to them.
You should take your own advice and stop whining
Since the Left if so fond of history, I would like its opinion on the Soviet Union and Maoist China. How can anyone be in favor of Marxism (Old School or Neo) when its body count is far greater than National Socialism?
I have native children but am not Native myself. I found this article interesting because so many Natives are rude to me and put on airs that they are this great society yet this article shows that no – Natives have their issues also. I have spent years teaching my kids their Native cultures all the while my in-laws would think nothing to come into my home and proceed to trash "whites". I have been trashed by people of all races -including whites but I look at the ignorance of those individuals and refuse to blame the entire races. To the whites who wish the other races would go away – well you are just as ignorant as others.
Yes Raven that was the whole reason for writing this article. To say "Native American's were slave owners just like whites. So don't get the idea you are victims because WE corner that market. So back off".
I'll willing to accept the history, but not the rhetoric. If you feel the pain of your ancestors, you have issues.
Blah Blah Blah.
If you don't like what my ancestors did just send me a bill. I won't pay it but sending the bill might make you feel better and put and end to the whining.
oh great ...another race baiting article.....
It's black history month!!! I want to know everything I can about my people because it was always omitted from the history books when I was growing up!!!! Why did you bother reading it?"
didnt read it.......but every day CNN has an article that has no other purpose than to remind its readers that they were mistreated
Matt, I don't think anyone is blaming you. We all know you weren't even there. I thought it was a very good article. It wouldn't hurt you to read it. There's nothing personal about this.
Pitiful humans.. hurry up and die off like the dinosaurs.
Lead the way Mighty White man! You go first to show death whos in charge! LMAO!
As a American and a African American it is sad to see the hateful comments people make. We have to learn from our past to understand where we want to go and for all of you people out there who don't believe anything pick up a book you would be surprised with what you find out.//
Hi James, You know that white people can not fathom the idea that the African had NOT A CLUE about this country back then. They were innocent....we do know that there were greedy whites and africans who were in on ripping them out of there country. I am sick about it. It was wrong. I am so sorry that this is something that never goes away. I could write a book on the wrong that has been done. How about the Indian...where the white man fought the spaniards over their land. It's evil and greedy. I love that old song Jesus loves the little children..all the children of the world. A White women
Spaniards WERE white!!!
^^^Single mother with mulatto triplets.
Will the Native American culture now be white washed for the convenience of Black history month?
Some people are just ignorate. If they knew how to investigate their heritage they may find they have some relation to the people who were driven, black or red or both. I weep for all those people who were put into bondage, black slaves and natives driven from their homes.
Ignorance is just not fixable.
Actually ignorance is fixable by education, remarkably enough.
Joseph was sold into slavery, spent time in an Egyptian dungeon, even though he suffered he came to a better life and a better future for his people.
I never knew that the Indians kept slaves. Missed that somehow...but the bottom line is....did we progress above that? Reading some of these comments and some on other stories...nope...we have not progressed that much at all.
There is a lot you do not know chum. Some blacks owned black slaves too. I will not tell you how I know but if you want to become more intelligent do a little reading or watch something besides FOX news.
?
Freed blacks bought their enslaved family members!!!! You need more education also!
There was just a thing on this in the "Who do you think you are" ancestry discovery show where they researched Blair Underwood's family. Because of laws in Virginia, if I remember correctly, freed slaves couldn't remain in the state (after a certain date) unless they were on a particular registry. In the example given on the show, Free Blacks owned slaves because, in some cases, they were caring for their elderly parents or other relatives.
I don't watch Fox news. Am always open to new info. Bottom line again is we need to respect each other for who we are. Not for the color of our skin.
A lot of today's majority population does not like to hear or read history like this because they believe their ancestors were courageous.
Just another person standing on the graves of thousands to make a buck!
OK Blacks and Indians, when is enough going to happen. We whites have been paying for our mistakes for about 10 GENERATIONS! It's about time you all got over it.
Carl, are you over it?
Obviiously the word "empathy" is now where to be found in your vocabulary. Also, how exactly are you "paying for it"? My neighbors are ethnic, and I have yet to hear them scream in excitement about getting paid for the guilty conscience of whites! Maybe you need to get over yourself.
I am curious as to how racial africans would act if we had Miss White America Pageant or White history Month? Also there is all black colleges like Bethune Cookman,but Whites are sued and racial if there is an all White college. Oops the media fails to report on these things all of America!
Black colleges were created by blacks when whites wouldn't allow them in traditional schools. They didn't cry about it like you think they do; they just built their own.. les idiot
I love reading and participating in the "black world". I find the white world rather boring!!!!
What's the point of CNN continuously running this kind of article?
1) We all know the history from history classes. Hearing it once is enough to make us recognize the bad things our ancestors did, to feel bad that they happened, and to learn not to repeat those actions.
2) There is nothing we can do to change what happened. Repeating this stuff ad nauseum will not make things better for the people that suffered.
3) Neither the people that carried out these terrible actions nor the people that endured them are alive today. Guilt and indignation over this history are both misplaced and pointless. No one alive is responsible for these tragedies.
Frankly, this kind of article wreaks of an author who feels their race is not getting enough attention (glomming onto the Trail of Tears for Black History Month - really?) and who cannot forgive people for the crimes of their ancestors. If white people ran these kinds of articles, or indeed had a "White History Month," there would be outrage. White people as a race certainly haven't endured great calamities in America, but neither are those that inflicted slavery or genocide still alive. Stop trying to make those of use who are alive feel bad for things we didn't do. Thank you.
@McGuffin: ty, I couldnt have said it any better. And I'll top you one: I think whites have more than "paid back and paid for" more than was ever taken. Food stamps, housing, welfare, medical care, affirmative action, jobs to ones without the required skills of a white man, and basically Free College. What more could they be given? Dignity and self respect they must get on their own.
Those same black colleges you mentioned also enroll white and other nationalities.
Blacks only got full civil rights in the 60s. Ten generations? I guess your poor grasp of basic math points to being very uneducated and explains your ignorance.
Amen!
10 generations? 200 years? how exactly have we paid anything for our mistakes to Native Americans?
Paid for in what way? As a child of Wendat ( Wyandott) descent, I'd really like to know how you paid for coming to my land, stealing it with steel, disease and lies, murdering any tribal nation that refused your advances.... There was never a treaty that White America could sign in good faith that they weren't already planning on violating. To this day American Indians NOT involved in casinos live on reservations that resemble some of the worst parts of south Chicago. What did YOU pony up, Carl, to make up for that?
I'm over it.
ROFLMAO!
Getting "over It" would happen if people would stop repeating history. In 1997 the Dineh' where forecefully removed by gun point off their lands onto a toxic dump called the Rio Purqui' just so the Peabody Coal company owned by Britian could destroy their lands and of course make their $$ off it. This was after all the goats and sheep and houses were shot up. 1997 is not that far back in History. They took their stroy and video to the U.N. in 2000. The video is called "Broken Arrow".For the history buffs out there the Dineh' iare also known as the Navajo.
Then there is the Third type of genocide for Native Americans that happened from 1950 thru 1970's:The Taking of children to be adpoted to "white" familes so they would grow up and "think" they were white. Lose their family connections. One problem, the kids and aoptive parents sought the truth and many have found their biological families. Many more are still actively searching. So this forced 3rd type of Genocide did not work.
Finaly, the elders of the Nations have been compileing the True history of all the Peoples of Trutle Island. The languages have survived and the stories have survived. Against all the odds.........WE HAVE SURVIVED!
What did you and your ancestors pay Carl? No one went to jail. No one paid a penny of back salary. Please tell me what you have been paying for? because now you have to share a public restroom, resturant, neighborhood, schools, roads, sidewalks, elevators, etc. with non whites?
Cherokees of African descent.
Interesting.. must be the white part of Africa
Huh?
Try African-Americans of Cherokee descent – – from the darkest parts of our country's legacy.
Why are blacks always climbing on the victim route of other nationalities?
Because Whites forced them to, just as they forced them along the Trail of Tears with the Cherokees.
Wahhhhhhhhhh Wahhhhhhhhhhhh 🙁
@micheal: why didnt they refuse? simple lay down and refuse?
because michelle that ment certain death. Next time the police pull you over for a traffic violation...refuse to give him/her your DL's and insurance information just lie down and refuse.
oops ment teresa
they are not, if you actually took the time to read a bit about history, you will realize that black people in the country have gone through quite a bit in regards to their heritage, culture, and being equal in a growing industrialized country. Time to pick up a book,...
Because there is money in it.
If you're not of British, Spanish or French descent then your nationality is excluded!
@BMM you evolved into what? a serial killer? child molester? people die every day here in the US by unspeakable means, women,children, mothers and fathers killing there own! man as a whole obviously has some more so-called evolving to do, if you what to make your case. look into the mirror before you judge others you are certainly no better as a human being
.
Its obvious the blackmysterymonth post owner doesn't get out very much, you should come out and play.
Thank you Tiya,
What a sad but enlightening article.
I agree. Great article! I learned a lot, and now I want to find out more..
I see white apes are real and can type! Some people are so repulsive!
So when the tribal leaders in Africa sold their own people to the slavers you would call that a migration? All one needs to do is look at the blacks in the US and look at their cousins in Africa. One still lives in mud huts, rapes for fun and breeds HIV infected babies that they cannot take care of. The other lives in houses (in the ghetto), steals for fun and breeds syphilis infected babies that they cannot take care of. It might not sound like much but the blacks in the US are much better off so they should be celebrating slavery. Blacks in Africa have failed to evolve for tens of thousands of years. No great empires, no great cities, no great inventors, no great cultures, no great thinkers and no great military leaders. The only black inventor was the peanut guy but he actually stole all of those ideas from a dying white man, perhaps his old master. The only military leader was that Zulu clown but he was laughable at best. 2,000 years before a 100 Roman legionaires could have cut down the entire Zulu army without a problem. Hell, even a 100 hoplites could have done so.
My point is that blacks have contributed nothing to humanity or even evolved since the dawn of man. They are still eating each other in Africa for F***'s sake. It is sad that we view them as a equal race. The lack of evolution is surely a clear sign of being inferior. We could put a million blacks on a nice, resource rich new planet with the height of Roman technology and come back 10,000 years later. We would find various tribes eating each other, waging war for no reason and going on regular "rape raids". The tallest building would likely not be taller than 8 feet. It is a sad truth but blacks really are not people in many ways. Just because they can "ape" our language and habits doesn't really mean anything. Even chimps can do sign language.
You are a sick person that hopefullly has little contact with people. Keep yourself hidden away with your ugly heart. You are an embarrassment to humankind.
Go to Wikipedia.org and type in African Empires. They actually had the most for a few thousand years, ignorant one.
Hmm..."only black inventor was the peanut guy..." You're not exactly the most well-read person, are you? I give you Garrett Morgan. Who's he, you ask? Oh, just a guy from Cleveland who invented the traffic light, and the gas mask, which he used to rescue workers trapped in a tunnel filled with fumes. He received plenty of awards for those life-saving inventions.
Of course, he was black.
Here's a web page about him: http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/garrett-morgan.html
Wow, look at that! If you go to the main blackinventor.com web site, there's a BUNCH of black inventors!!!
Don't bother to rebut, you'll only look a fool, which is what you are.
Wow, blacks invented like .00001% of humanity's tools. I'm very impressed. You forgot to mention the crack-pipe, invented by Leroy Jackson in 1970.
Funny, I deal with people like you(and I use the term "people" loosely) everyday. That Zulu "clown" you're referring to (Shaka) lived from 1787-1828, NOT 2000 years ago. And, have you forgotten how the Zulus kicked the British Army's a** at the Battle of Isandlwana on January 22, 1878? But then again, I expected as much from you; it amazes me how uneducated and ignorant racists are when it comes to history and politics. You hide behind the anonymity of a computer in your mama's basement and spew filth such as this, and yet if you saw a black man in person you wouldn't say a word to his face for fear of getting your ticket punched. You're nobody and nothing to us, so just keep hating. It must suck to be a racist, knowing that what you've been taught has been discredited as a lie and that other races ARE your equal, but there's nothing you can do about it.
You must not have read my comment. If you are black don't worry about it, I used some big words. Anyway, I stated that Romans from 2,000 years before Zulu could have defeated him. That is why I went on to say that even hoplites could have done so. Zulu defeated an extremely small detail of British soldiers because he outnumbered them 50:1. If life have taught me anything is that blacks won't fight unless they outnumber their enemy.
Michael............where are the Zulu's today?
They're still with us, in South Africa today. Just because they've chosen to wear clothing instead of leopard skins (isn't that what your friend BlackMysteryMonth called "evolution"?) doesn't mean they've disappeared. Need I remind you that South Africa's last two presidents (Kgalema Montlanthe and Jacod Zuma) are both members of the Zulu nation?
I could also ask "Where are the Nazis"? If White supremacy was such a good thing, then why didn't the Nazis succeed? And why have the Neo-Nazis and Aryan Brotherhood resort to hiding out in compounds in the middle of nowhere?
Wow,..just,...Wow!
I don't know what to say to this response. He'ss very accurate on some details but misinformed about some slightly.
And such vehemence!
@ BlackMysteryMonth – The depth of your ignorance is boundless, matched only by the arrogance of your racist viewpoint. Do a little research.....you are the descendant of an African! Have a nice life.
@mfmaine
Now you know that America is the cradle of mankind...bwahaha.
Your comment should drill right thru a lotto thick skulls who are misguided and kinda stupid or somethin'.
You should win a award for the most racist person on earth. What have you personally accomplished? If blacks are as bad as your comment says then maybe you should be on your own planet so you won't have the disconfort of even seeing them.
Its not seeing them that discomforts me sugar. It's the smell. I can smell their stink from a mile away. Why do all black people smell like poo? Isn't there a cure for that?
@BlackMysteryMonth.
You are are wrong about a great many things, and you are correct about a few. I'd like to point out to you that Black people don't smell like poop, it's more like earwax. But no big deal.
Your pitiful diatribe serves only to embarrass any 'white' person. You personally have not evolved even as far as the average African. Left to your own devices in some area in Africa and you would be dead within 10 minutes. Humanity is much more than technological achievements or military 'accomplishments.' The Africans have been at least smart enough to not experience a WW1 or WW2 which only demonstrated how utterly stupid we all are. And I'd like to see you go up against Obama on Jeopardy!
Why does anyone bother to reply to this person? He obviously wrote that just to get people upset. And if he really believes what he wrote, anything you write, no matter how true or logical, won't matter to him.
So you have recieved a genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation, right? And, please, give us a short list of your inventions.
Wow. You are a lost soul, my friend. Hard to believe what I just read.
You worst than ignorant if all you write is true. Then war mongrel, gun carrying, Colonizing asses should have stayed off the entire peaceful continent introducing their thieving capitalist, murdering ways.
EVERYTHING written in your post can be applied to many races, including whites. Oh, and the first open heart surgery was done by a black man. Black people have a host of major accomplishments, but historians (who were white) left those tid-bits out of the history books, so that ignorant people like yourself would not know any better. Please, continue to spout ignorant storylines about the things you do not know, obviously. Amazing.
"Oh, and the first open heart surgery was done by a black man"
No. The procedure was the first successful CLOSURE of an associated heart wound (pericardium – the sac surrounding the heart). This was Daniel Hale Williams in 1883.
The first successful intracardiac correction of a congenital heart defect using hypothermia was performed by Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and Dr. F. John Lewis at the University of Minnesota on September 2, 1952.
Some historian.
I bet you call yourself a Christian, too.
You mad bro?
Sounds like a dumb and stupid racist to me!
and this is the reason for blackhistorymonth, so our children don't have to learn your twisted version of history about their people, we can do a side by side of crack versus meth but what would be the point, just because your race benefitted from 300 years of free labor doesn't make you superior, doesn't make you couragious because you stole land and property that you now live on.
you are clearly insane.
As misguided has his views are...he did hit the nail on the head of one point that people conveniently ignore – how African slavery began. African tribal leaders started trading their prisoners of war and eventually their own people with Europeans for trinkets and firearms.
The rest of his diatribe is just inane garbage...
Trail of tears was a kewl tune by a group called europe back in the 80s.
Wasnt that "Tears for Fears"?