Why Aren't We in History Books?

By Juanita Torrence-Thompson (Reprinted with Permission of the Author)

In Massachusetts schools we learned

about happy black slaves singing in cotton fields.

Who do you know who is happy slaving

and working for nothing?

Give me a break!

Besides Dr. Martin Luther, Jr.

who tried to bring peace to the races,

Why aren't we in history books?

Didn't Malcolm X grow in understanding

the races should work together?

Didn't Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisolm

accomplish a lot in Congress?

Didn't W.E.B. DuBois fight for peace?

Aren't those achievements?

Besides Booker T. Washington and Tuskegee Institute

Why aren't we in history books?

Didn't abolitionist Frederick Douglass

hold three government offices?

Didn't Marion Anderson and Leontyne Price sing at the Met?

Didn't astronomer Benjamin Banneker help plan DC?

Aren't those achievements?

Besides Chemist George Washington Carver's

creation of many uses of the peanut and sweet potato

Why aren't we in history books?

Didn't Justice Thurgood Marshall end school segregation?

Didn't journalist Ida B. Wells arouse opposition to lynching?

Didn't Jane Bolin become

the first black woman judge in America?

Aren't those achievements?

Why aren't we in history books?

Didn't Marcus Garvey organize the first black union?

Didn't Matthew Henson reach the North Pole first?

Didn't Madam C. Walker

become the first black female millionaire?

Aren't those achievements?

Why aren't we in history books?

Didn't scientist Lewis Latimer invent carbon filament?

Didn't Garnet A. Morgan invent the traffic light?

Didn't Dr. Charles Drew invent

the method for blood transfusions?

Aren't those achievements?

You bet they are!

So, why aren't we in history books?

From Juanita Torrence-Thompson's book: CELEBRATING A TAPESTRY OF LIFE published: Carribean American/The Bear's Tale, San Fernando Poetry Journal. Ms. Torrence-Thompson is a Queens poet/writer/actress whose aware-winning and placed poetry, short stories, children's stories and feature articles have been published extensively in U.s. magazines and newspapers.