Dirty Little Secrets

To date, history remains largely white history. Black people, as a race, are virtually non-existent when historical events are described in textbooks, movies and centennial celebrations. Their role in America is most often that of cotton pickers, marchers or rioters. Black History Month narrowly limits contributions of Blacks to a familiar list to 10 to 15 individuals when, in fact, Blacks, though enslaved and powerless, had a profound and indelible influence on the American socioeconomic system. Black labor was the engine that drove this nation and civilization around the world. Slavery and its legacies shaped and continue to reveal this nation’s cultural, moral and ethical hypocrisy. The products of Black’s labor created industrial revolutions in Britain and America. They produced social tensions that led to the Revolutionary War, Civil War, Reconstruction and a national civil rights movement.