BLACK HISTORY MONTH
The Little-Known History of the Underground Railroad to Mexico
And the Afro-Mestizo emancipator who opened the door to Mexico for enslaved people
There is a passion in my heart for history that began in my junior year of college. An African American studies course opened my eyes to an important fact: In previous grades, I suffered through His Story, not history class. The realization that my history education experience had been filled with the schoolyard bully accounts of conflicts was incredibly painful. This set me on a course to learn the truth.
When I became an educator, I did not impart to my students the legacy of lies that my teachers taught me. My pupils deserved to know the truth about historical events, and I was determined to teach it to them. Teaching them about the damaging effects of white supremacy was imperative to me.
Whitewashing history reinforces the narrative that only white people make substantive contributions to the world. I view this as an ongoing and orchestrated attack on the psyche of Black and Brown people. The truth of history will not only set us free, but it will also help unite us to fight a common enemy: racism.
