Why Knowing Your History is so Important



Posted: Sunday, August 14, 2011

by TeamAfro
AfroDaddy.com

Every one of us (unless you’re a sociopath) wants to feel connected to other human beings on the planet.  The intimate connection between two in love is a beautiful thing, but on an even more basic level people want to feel that they have a place in the world.  The sense of belonging “somewhere” or being from “someplace” is vital to our ability to function as a part of the human race and not as an outsider looking in.  Forging bonds with others in the present is made much harder when you are unsure of your past.  People want to know where you came from, who are your parents, what is your ethnicity, etc.   We all have memories of our life as we have lived it, but not knowing your family history before that can leave a person feeling incomplete; without roots or a solid foundation.  To go one step further, not knowing the history of major events in your neighborhood, your city, your country and the world also can leave a person with a feeling of “it is what it is” and nothing can change.  The knowledge of history both personal and external is vital to success in the present and the ability to create a positive future.

It used to always amaze me how a child who has been adopted by a loving family and had a great childhood would still yearn to find his or her birth parents.  If you have two people who “chose” you to be their child and have given you all the love you could want why would you feel the need to go find these other people who gave you up for adoption.   Of course the overwhelming majority answer is that the child wants to know what his original roots are.  There is a void or a sense of closure that is needed.  An understanding of your natural roots is a powerful force and for an adopted person the answer can be almost mandatory.  What is interesting is that it doesn’t really matter what the person will find it is just a matter of knowing who the original birth parents are.  The root or connectedness is vital to close the past and then move on to the future.

For many African Americans there is an internal struggle with not knowing the true lineage of their family tree.  African Americans have always collectively struggled with not knowing their ancestral lineage back to Africa (or some other place), and it has left many with a feeling that they don’t belong here.  OF course this feeling has been magnified through enslavement and Jim Crow and other racism that attributes greatly to the feeling that this is not where they belong.  The feeling of disconnectedness among African Americans is magnified however by the absence of black fathers in so many homes.  The combination of not knowing your family lineage along with not knowing who your father is can play havoc with a person’s psyche and confidence.  Without a father (and uncles, grandparents, etc.) a young man or woman can easily feel that they have no roots and no frame of reference as to what has worked in the past for his “people”.  A young man can feel isolated and alone in his quest to conquer the world or even make a way for himself.  Having relatives to guide a young person and pass on family stories and oral traditions can make a world of difference to a youth African American or otherwise.

The last point I will make about knowing history is that without knowledge of the past we all run the risk of making the same mistakes of others.  They can be as small as making a bad career choice to as large as letting genocide run rampant in a country.  Human history is filled with small and monumental failings and not knowing what those are and how they came about creates a fertile environment for those same mistakes to be repeated.  Knowledge of past politics, wars, inventions, advancements, struggles and achievements lets a person build on the good of the past while discarding and avoiding the failings of those who came before us.

History may or may not be a person’s favorite subject in school, but we must always remember that it is the one topic that should always be taught in the classroom but most importantly outside of it.  The more knowledge we gain about our past the better we can situate ourselves for the future.
Team Afro is the writing team for AfroDaddy.com - The Black Man's Survival Guide. The website is http://www.afrodaddy.com and you can reach the author of this article at teamafro@afrodaddy.com

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