Who Were We Before Slavery?

As we celebrate February as Black History Month, my mind keeps wandering to the thought of who we were before slavery. As Africans in America, our history has always started with slavery – and no information is ever volunteered about our history prior to this country. We’ve all seen depictions of Queen Nefertiti and King Tut and have been told that royalty runs through our veins but for most of us, concrete evidence of our past remains a mystery.

While we continue on in this post-millennium society if often feels like we are moving further and further away from that mysterious past, so much so that the information we would seek seems out of our grasp. One of my goals for this month is to face that challenge and to see what information (if any) I can find about our past – and not the same information that’s been retold over and over. I’m curious to know more about the customs of various African tribes, their systems of government, family structures, and what a day in their lives looked like. My hope is to unearth some of this information and share it with you. Since Black Is is a communal space, I am hopeful that many of your will share what knowledge you have with us as well.

As always, we will continue to celebrate the many achievements of Black people in this country, especially those that don’t receive any recognition at all. Let’s continue to work together in making new history of our own.