What's in a Name?

A Guest Blog for Black History Month by Willie Brooks

(Note: Willie Brooks is a VISTA volunteer in Indianapolis, Indiana.)

Black History Month offers unique challenges for African-Americans who want to engage in genealogical research. The word surname is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the name borne in common by members of a family.” More commonly referred to as a last name here in the United States, a surname not only connects living family members to one another, but provides a link to those ancestors who came before you – if indeed those links can be followed.

Figure 1: Shows my sample family tree on an ancestry website

Asking a person about their ancestry can often induce a sense of pride amongst people. There are a number of services today that help people learn the stories of their ancestors; for instance, where they lived, what they did for a living, how they died. Today many companies offer genealogy services, which provide historical records, help build family trees, and connect people with the kind of familial knowledge that would otherwise elude them.

Figure 2: Depicts the logo from popular ancestry website Ancestry.com

One of the most well-known online services, Ancestry.com, founded in 1983, celebrated its two millionth user in 2012, and boasts that its users have access to over 12 billion historical records and images from more than 40 countries, dating back to 1270 C.E.

February is Black History Month, a time not only to honor outstanding members of the Black community who have contributed to the historical narrative that is uniquely American, but also a time to reflect on the many sacrifices of the Black community that led to the present day. But knowledge of our genetic past becomes much more difficult as you move beyond more recent history and approach the historical period where slavery was once commonplace.

Figure 3: The image above shows the grotesque manner in which slaves were packed into slave ships to maximize space.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (1500’s-1900’s) displaced over twelve million Africans over its duration, and while many of them were sent to other countries that also engaged in the slave trade, the total slave population in the United States reached four million by the end of the Civil War. 

I, personally, am disconnected from the story of my ancestors. Members of my family believe that my great grandparents might have been slaves at some point, but unfortunately I might never know for sure. A stolen history has become an ugly, inconvenient truth, one that is unfortunately all too commonplace in my community.  The rich ancestral histories that are relished by many are forever lost to some. For many African-Americans, our surname serves as a subtle reminder of that darker time in the history of this great nation, but thanks to our predecessors who fought for freedom and equality, we now have the ability to write our own chapter and give our names a new meaning.

Black History is American History

Black History Month was created because African American history and culture were being overlooked due to racial prejudice. (http://historywithhilary.blogspot.com/2015/02/black-history-month.html) The observance of Black History Month became a national event when President Ford made it official in 1976. 

Photo: naacp.org

Today, teachers and students focus their attentions on influential African Americans during the month of February. While this is a great good, most Americans do not pay much attention to Black History Month because they are no longer in school.

In addition, Black History Month, like much of history, tends to succumb to the Great Man theory, looking primarily at the most influential African Americans like W.E.B. DuBois, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, but what about the millions of unknown Africans and African Americans? Their everyday experiences laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement and, today, the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Photo: uab.edu

The United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent recently conducted a survey in the United States and their findings concerned the members. The report stated: "The colonial history, the legacy of enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the US remains a serious challenge as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent."

Groundbreaking new histories are exploring the degree to which America's economic system, North and South, was based on the exploitation of people as property, such as Edward Baptist's "The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism".

Despite learning about notable African Americans while in school, the white majority continues to perpetrate racial injustices -- and a discussion of reparations seems necessary. (http://www.phillytrib.com/metros/u-n-panel-suggests-slavery-reparations-in-u-s/article_3f4a7074-e9d0-52db-8509-2a456bd993d5.html#.Vq1xso38_uo.facebook)

Photo: unipd-centrodirittiumani.it

Hopefully, Black History Month will someday be unnecessary because black history IS the history of America. But until that day, take the opportunity this month to study not just notable African Americans, but the experiences of all of Black America. Learn about what is driving Black Lives Matter, look at racial profiling policies, review drug laws that have disproportionately placed black men in jail and finally, consider your own thoughts and actions: are you a part of the problem, are you actively helping or are you standing on the sidelines just watching? White America needs to own up to the atrocities that were committed in our past.  

I am appalled at the way the white majority has treated African Americans throughout American history: for founding an economic system based upon the abomination that was slavery, for Jim Crow laws, for lynchings, for segregation, for racial profiling and for ignoring the struggles African Americans experience to this day.