Politicians, academics, historians, and activists gathered at D.C.’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center Friday morning for a panel sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus to both celebrate the progress of Black history and bring light to what they said were attacks on the subject, especially in Florida.
The Sunshine State was well-represented in a discussion entitled: “Stay Woke Africans in America: Preserve our History.” The panel was hosted by Rep. Frederica Wilson of South Florida, a former educator and member of the Miami-Dade County School Board.
“I slept, worked, walked, and talked African American history,” Wilson said in her opening remarks. “Today, this is a call to action to all Africans in America to wake up and teach your history, learn your history, and preserve your history.”
Part of the panel discussion were two Florida professors: Marvin Dunn, professor emeritus of psychology at Florida International University, and Reginald Ellis, professor of history at Florida A&M University.
Dunn spoke about the importance of remembering painful stains on American history, citing his efforts to preserve the history of the Rosewood Massacre in Florida. Dunn bought land in Rosewood and led efforts to mark its 100th anniversary in August.
In 1923, a white mob attacked the Black community in Rosewood — about 50 miles southeast of Gainesville — over a false accusation of assault by a Black man. More than 30 Black people — including women and children — were murdered and survivors were driven off their property forever.
“If we don’t teach these young people, it will be lost,” Dunn said gravely. “It is being lost, it is being erased, it is being changed — especially in Florida.”
Dunn was retired when Gov. DeSantis was elected in 2018. He said he thought he was done until the governor began to, in Dunn’s words, debase Black history. Dunn brought up the controversial African American history standard teaching that some enslaved people benefited by learning trade skills.
Ellis said he first attended FAMU as an occupational therapy student until he attended one of his first classes — an introduction to African American history — on a fateful Wednesday evening.
“That night, I left and I called my mom and told her I was changing my major from occupational therapy to African American history,” Ellis said. “Because it was the first time in my life that I had heard about my ancestors from the diasporic perspective.”
Ellis said the 13-week class wasn’t long enough for him to make up for what he had missed for the first 18 years of his life. To him, that was why African American history and Historically Black Colleges and Universities were important.
History museum
The panel was moderated by Van Jones, the author and CNN political correspondent. Also in attendance were Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the House assistant democratic leader, and Lonnie Bunch, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution — the first Black person to fill that role.
Bunch was instrumental in establishing the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Opened in 2016, it is now the eighth most visited museum in North America. Bunch said the road to its construction and completion was a difficult one.
“It took over 100 years to build that museum. I worked on it every day for 11 years, and the fight against it was strong,” Bunch said.
Clyburn, considered one of the most powerful members of the Democratic Party, relayed an anecdote he felt was the essence of African Americans’ contributions to American history.
“I think it’s important for every student in America to know that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb,” Clyburn began. “But I think it’s just as important for every student in America to know Louis Latimer and his filament that Thomas Edison took to put in that bulb. A son of former slaves is Louis Latimer. His filament is still in that light bulb, and that’s what makes it work.”
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix