What is history anyway?

 

3. What is history anyway? 

Four historians were asked that question initially asked 60 years ago, according to History.com.  These historians, all based in the UK,  were critiquing E.H. Carr’s book “What is History” of 1961. This question isn’t new. Some say it is the tale of the winners, for example. Those who “win” get to say what happened in the past. Yet, we know that isn’t always true. As we dig in the dirt and sand, we find the tale of the “losers”, too. That gets incorporated into what we know of the winners.

Look at neanderthalensis, for example. More information about this group of hominids has come out recently – turns out they used design and art in their lives – often considered to be restricted to homo sapiens sapiens alone.  This group did not “win”, yet, they sort of did. Many of us carry their DNA within us (I do!). Often considered “cave men”, we know that is a pejorative term. They were civilized, had societies, loved their children, cared for those injured, built homes (no, they didn’t all live in caves), performed rituals after loved ones died.

History seems to be, according to a few big history folks in England, narratives of the past, information supported by references and proof, origin stories that have come down generations, explanations of how our worlds began, both oral and scientific, ways to understand our present times. Really? Wow, that’s a pretty comprehensive list, and I know I’m not including every little bit.

Doesn’t include the good and the “bad”, does it? Seems to be about mainly facts, although origin stories are a way of finding out what a culture believes is important, therefore not factual. Lots of proof and references involved in history as well. History can be used to tar and feather figures of the past as well, though, by including proof about people who were held up to us all as “godlike”. Take Columbus. Not really the good godlike explorer we were taught about in elementary school. Seeing him as a real person doesn’t take away the bravery he and his men had to sail into the unknown, but it does make us realize that he didn’t see the Taino as people, was more worried about money and pleasing Isabella than “discovering a land”, and began the Columbian Period of colonization and genocide.

So, back to American history and race. Why are people afraid of reading about, being taught about, hearing about the facts of our nation, as it was? This isn’t just about African Americans, as historians know. The people here when Europeans began arriving were Native Americans from Asia (35000 to 50000 years prior to the 1600’s). Critical Race Theory also references what Europeans brought to that large group of people. So many tribes on the Eastern seaboard – mainly Lenape origin, but others as well. We grew up “playing” cowboys and Indians – surrounded by the myths of the good that Europeans brought to the “savages”. Those “savages” had constitutions, quite intricate living situations, building, knowledge of the land that continues to be better than most who do not have Native American heritage. They had survived, and prospered, after all, for at least 35,000 years (likely 50,000) before the White folks got here to stay.

How many of you have taken a non-Eurocentric history course? For example, a course on Native Americans in the Americas? Or East African tribal politics prior to colonization? Or the History of the Indian Subcontinent when Hinduism was being formed? People in power tend to decide what will be taught in schools. Even in colleges and universities, they think they call the shots. Look at Nikole Hannah-Hones, chosen for a UNC position of prestige “Knight Chair”. She was initially denied tenure, based on the request of a Trustee member of the University. WHAT? A person of power decided her life work was not suitable for tenure granting? No, he decided she was not suitable, and her tenure package was not presented to the faculty, who then votes. What was her “crime”? She published the 1619 Project for the New York Times. Eventually, this trustee was overruled, however it was too late. Nikole Hannah-Jones chose another offer – at Howard University, an HBCU. Choosing this offer meant academic freedom, a welcoming faculty and Board of Trustees, and the ability to provide to Howard’s students the knowledge she has. Who lost? UNC students, of course. Did the trustee win?

 

Next up: The 1619 Project

 

 

Murphy, Kate. “Nikole Hanna-Jones’s Full Statement”. 7/6/2021. News Observer. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article252593038.html?fbclid=IwAR0vSy6eRRNrlJOrz9RPAlCTAt5QZ25HTgmmcGzZ8R768lh-jfSK8nZF1cg , Accessed 7/10/2021

 

Rutherford, Adam. “A Brief History”. 10/2017. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/10/a-brief-history-of-everyone-who-ever-lived/537942/ , Accessed 7/10/2021.

 

“What is History?” History.co 8/2020. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/head-head/what-history , Accessed 7/10/2021.