Black History?  AMERICAN History
by
Dr. J. Michael Butler
Associate Professor of History
South Georgia College 

     A student recently posed a familiar question when he discovered that I have written a book pertaining to the civil rights movement in Pensacola, Florida.  Although the words sometimes differ, I am used to being asked why a white guy from southern Alabama (who graduated from Ole Miss, no less) is so interested in African-American history.  My response is simple – because black history is American history.  It took me many years to realize it, but one cannot fully understand the history of our nation without understanding the role race has played in the United States since its foundation. 

     Interestingly enough, I did not major in history with the intention of focusing on race relations.  Like many of my SGC students, I come from a racially conservative family that experienced integration on a first hand basis.  As a result, they had mostly negative things to say about the “troublemakers” who integrated Mobile restaurants, movie theaters, and schools in the 1960s and 1970s.  I, therefore, had preconceived notions of the civil rights movement before I took my first history course.  When I went to Spring Hill College, I decided to major in history because I thought I wanted to be an attorney.  But I absolutely fell in love with my history classes and earned a bachelor’s degree in the subject.  I first became interested in the impact of race on historical developments when I wrote my senior thesis on the slave trade.  It was one of the main reasons I decided to further my history studies.  My mentor at Spring Hill urged me to choose a graduate school that specialized in my favorite topic, Southern cultural history, so I ended up at the University of Mississippi.  I did most of my graduate work at the University’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture.  It was at Ole Miss that I developed an understanding and appreciation of African-American history. 

     I learned rapidly that race is an indispensable aspect of our regional and national identity.  One cannot study any part of Southern history without examining the pivotal role race has played in the all areas of the region.  In graduate school, I read about many people and events that I had never even heard of before.  I did not know who Emmett Till, James R. Europe, Medgar Evers, James Meredith, Stokely Carmichael, Henry M. Turner, Josh Gibson, Robert Johnson, Ida Wells Barnett, Robert Williams, or Fannie Lou Hamer were.  All of these individuals, who happened to be African-American, played a critical role in the formation of modern America.  I had also never known that white organizations and political leaders used such extreme tactics to withhold civil rights from blacks solely because of their skin color.  I had never read an account of a lynching.  I was never told about the numerous race riots that destroyed entire communities.  I did not know that groups such as the White Citizen’s Councils, the Knights of the White Camellia, or the State Sovereignty Commissions used threats, blackmail, and violence to keep blacks socially, politically, and economically subordinate to whites.  I did not know that whites and blacks swore on different Bibles in Alabama courtrooms during the 1950s.  I was unaware that black blues musicians influenced bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and Led Zeppelin, and that they had to bring the music from Britain for American audiences to appreciate their own unique art.  In short, the more I read about the Southern experience, the more intrigued I became with the region’s racial past. 

     By the time I graduated with my doctorate, I had become a specialist of sorts in Southern race relations.  I wrote a dissertation, academic articles, book reviews, and nearly two complete monographs on the topic.  I believe that the main issue that attracts me to the field is that our country, as great as it is, has actively denied equal treatment to some citizens solely because of their race.  How and why did this happen?  Why did so many people ignore, or even actively encourage, discrimination and racism to flourish in a nation founded on the principles of justice and equality?  Could it happen again to another ethnic or religious group?  All of these questions still drive my interest in black history and fuel my desire to teach students a more complete, inclusive version of the American past.   

     Many, though, remain ignorant concerning black contributions to U. S. history.  One step I have taken to present a complete understanding of our shared history is to offer an African-American History course at South Georgia College.  I first taught the class in Spring 2005 and it has grown in enrollment each year.  For the first time this Spring, the course will be offered in the evening.  It is my hope that individuals who are interested in the topic but can not take morning or afternoon classes will enroll in the course.  I would love to meet new students who possess an interest in the topic and want to broaden their understanding of the American experience.  Only through a more complete knowledge of our shared past, warts and all, can we fully understand the present.   

If anyone would like more information on the class or African-American history in general, please contact Dr. Butler at mike.butler@sgc.edu (after November 1, the email address will be jmichael.butler@sgc.edu).