Black Historians Know There’s No Such Thing as Objective History
Recent critiques of “presentism” fail to see that we can’t divorce the past from the present—and that supposedly objective scholarship has long promoted racist narratives and suppressed Black history.
Keisha N. Blain, Professor of Africana Studies and History at Brown University and Columnist for MSNBC/September 9, 2022
“Societal change is impossible, Woodson argued, when we fail to interrogate the standard accounts of history and other fields of study. Telling “neutral” historical accounts of egregious practices such as slavery and lynching serves a fundamental purpose—to excuse injustices of the present and thereby maintain systems of oppression. It is a form of purposeful amnesia designed to empower oppressors.” —Keisha N. Blain
DR. EDNA B. MCKENZIE BRANCH OF ASALH 