By Jacqueline Bacon
As my experience as a historian and critic of the press
has taught me repeatedly, the so-called "mainstream" media frequently
misunderstand and misrepresent African-American culture and history. A recent example is the claim by some in the
press that Barack Obama's membership in the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.'s Trinity
United Church of Christ, which espouses an Afrocentric view of history and
Christianity, is somehow cause for concern or criticism. Clearly implied is the subtext that
Afrocentrism--which, defined broadly, represents an intellectual approach to
history that emphasizes the central contributions of African peoples to world civilizations
and attempts to correct Eurocentric perspectives which have ignored the origins
of inventions and philosophical developments in Africa--is somehow beyond the
cultural pale, "too radical," undertheorized, or faddish.
These mischaracterizations are easily disproved by
returning to various historical texts written by African Americans, from the
eighteenth century to the present, which demonstrate that what we now call
Afrocentrism is part of a longstanding, well-established, and philosophically
rich tradition. Consider, for example, Freedom's Journal, the first African-American newspaper,
published in New York from 1827 to 1829 and distributed nationally and
internationally. Editors Samuel Cornish
and John Russwurm, as well as various contributors to the newspaper, offered readers
an Afrocentric historical perspective. Articles published in Freedom's Journal explored the
origins of various arts, agriculture and other sciences, and formal education
in ancient Egypt; argued that the denial of the Africanness of the ancient
Egyptians was incorrect and motivated by racism; and located the establishment
of the first major city, government, and police force in Ethiopia.
Offerings such as an excerpt from the work of Haitian
scholar Pomp?e Valentin, Baron de Vastey, which Russwurm reprinted in Freedom's Journal in 1829, argued that the revered Greek and
Roman civilizations, valued as the originators of "Western" philosophy, were
built on African foundations and indebted to Africa for their major tenets and
innovations; the Greeks, in fact, "were in a state of the grossest ignorance
and barbarity . . . till civilized by colonies from Egypt." The Judeo-Christian tradition, too, was
traced back to Africa in Freedom's Journal; articles
explored Moses' education in Egypt and noted the vibrancy of the early church
in Africa.
Given this rich historical context, it is inaccurate and
unfortunate that Afrocentrism is repeatedly represented in contemporary media
as threatening, un-American, and incompatible with Christianity. Freedom's Journal's
readers were devoted Christians, deeply committed to the United States, and
dedicated to pushing the nation to live up to its (unrealized) democratic
ideals. They also affirmed the value and
resonance of the perspective that we now call Afrocentrism in their views of
history and in their faith. Far from
being divisive, this perspective may be the key to national and international
reconciliation, part of a global reevaluation of the past that will help us
make a future not of oppression and exploitation but of liberation and
affirmation.
Jacqueline Bacon, a writer and scholar,
is the author of Freedom's
Journal: The First African-American Newspaper. You can also visit her website at http://www.jacquelinebacon.com.
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