Here in the U.S. of A. we complain about the lack of history inclusion and education in our country. Obviously this is not just a problem here. Ever since biological racism was formulated in the 17th and 18th centuries, the real history of peoples of color has been mashed, rehashed, mis-told, and purposely forgotten.
As many of us have found, if we don't write it - it won't come. Bill over at Jewels in the Jungle has written a good introductory treatise on AfroGermanic history. I found it inspiring and it sparked my imagination, giving me several ideas for Afro-historical fiction.
My spouse Levon, is always saying that "history is created and remembered by the works that are written about it." How many times have we seen a Cleopatra movie? Or books about Alexander the Great? A perfect example was last season's HBO hit Rome. It used historical fact to underlie a good story about two Roman soldiers.
In my life, those soldiers could have easily been two Nubian warriors . . . and it should have been. And if I have anything to say about it, it will be.
Jewels in the Jungle: Black History in Germany & Europe (English version): An African-German educator speaks out
"Read A Book" - Bomani
2 comments:
Thanks for your visit to "Jewels in the Jungle" and thank you for re-publishing an introduction to Patrick's piece at your blog.
Patrick Schulz, an African-German high school teacher of Greek and Roman history here in Germany wrote that piece for a group project we started in February 2007. I just provided the translation from German to English and published it along with several other posts in our series about the history of black Africans in Germany and Europe.
My colleague Jörg Wolf over in Berlin recently re-published the German language version to the German Fulbright Scholar group blog "Atlantic Review". There was some heated debate (auf Deutsch) surrounding Patrick's essay that may interest your readers. Here is the post title and URL:
Atlantic Review - Archives August 2007
German Schools and Universities Don't Teach Black History
http://atlanticreview.org/archives/797-German-Schools-and-Universities-Dont-Teach-Black-History.html
If you are in need of additional information on black history in Europe please feel free to drop us a line as we have collected a number of links to online resources that may be useful for you at "Black Baby Boomers".
Also you may want to check with Adrianne George of the Black Women in Europe blog who has been writing quite a bit about the subject lately at her place.
Auf Wiedersehen und noch mal Danke!
Regardless of how some people would rather misrepresent history or even revise it, the truth remains the truth and our accomplishments as a people speak for themselves. Thank you for keeping this issue in focus for us all to reflect upon.
The Interview Teacher
http://interviewteacher.com/blog/
Post a Comment