Academy Award-winning actor, director and narrator Morgan Freeman in 2005 explained on 60 Minutes why he thinks Black History Month is —in his words — “ridiculous.” In an interview with Mike Wallace on the CBS news program on Dec. 21, 2005, Freeman said he does not want a “Black History Month; black history is American history.”
A comment I found online by Logical Dude says this very clearly, “When you take an entire month and dedicate it to a race of people, you’re automatically saying those people are excluded from society in some way. You’re planting that idea implicitly, if not outright explicitly.”
Wallace’s next question was, “how are we going to get rid of racism,” to which Freeman answers, “stop talking about it,” stop referring to everyone by race, stop obsessing over it.
No one took his advice. Today it’s just the opposite. We are told — by the Woke crowd — that everything is racist. We are told that the white race is racist.
There are racists in America, but they are, in my opinion, an insignificant minority. When they are relegated to insignificance and ignored, they will lose their power. It’s a scientific fact.
I am currently reading “The President and the Freedom Fighter” by New York Times best selling author Brian Kilmeade.
This historical book is about President Abraham Lincoln and one of America’s most famous abolitionists, Frederick Douglass.
I have read several books about Lincoln but nothing about the life of Douglass. Interestingly both men were self-taught.
Lincoln’s formal education amounted to approximately one year’s worth of lessons. Douglass, born into slavery, was zero.
Both men became renowned speakers by reading and following principles from the same little booklet — The Columbian Orator.
After Douglass escaped his bondage and settled in New Bedford, Mass., he received help and guidance from other abolitionists. His first mentor was newspaper publisher William Lloyd Garrison. Douglass moved audiences with his story of slavery during their eight-year alliance, countless times to groups that reached over 1,000.
With the threat of being caught as a run-away-slave and returned to bondage, a small band of English Quakers bought his freedom for $710.96 in 1847 — valued at over $20,000 today.
Douglass then moved to Rochester, N.Y. With $2,174 in new donations, he started a newspaper, The North Star. It eventually reached an average subscription of 3,000. The motto of his publication was “Right Is of No Sex — Truth Is of No Color.”
Douglass’ next mentor was wealthy real estate baron Gerrit Smith. Smith subscribed to The North Star and donated 40-acres of land to Douglass. Located in the Adirondacks on what Smith called Timbuctoo, he eventually granted 120,000 acres in 40-acre plots to 3,000 free African-Americans.
Asking for advice from Douglass on a writing project of her own in 1851 was Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, would sell some two million copies in the next decade in the United States and educate readers on the evils of slavery.
Another associate and supporter of Douglass was abolitionist John Brown. According to Wikipedia, Brown believed he was “an instrument of God,” raised to strike the death blow to American slavery.
Brown is known for his raid on Harpers Ferry — for which he was executed — one year before the South’s succession and the American Civil War.
Although they didn’t agree on everything, Douglass became an informal advisor for Lincoln on slavery affairs. In one meeting with Douglass, Lincoln kept the governor of Connecticut, William Buckingham, waiting for over two hours.
In case it’s not obvious, all of these mentors and supporters of Douglass were not of his race. I fear, this part of history is being ignored.
Douglass’ journey is an incredible story that touches the heart and soul. As an enslaved person, until he was 20, he only saw his mother a handful of times. He never knew the identity of his father, who was most likely white. Despite having the cards stacked against him, he became a powerful and influential abolitionist and the most photographed man in the 19th century.
Douglass’ story is an American story.
