10 biggest lies about us

1. The Tale Of Tarzan

This is the belief that African people were totally uncivilized until whites came in and conquered them. False.

2. Free Whites, Black Slaves

20 Africans landed at Jamestown, Virginia, in August 1619, a year before the arrival of the Mayflower. They were free. When the pilgrims arrived, they came with indentured servants, i.e. white slaves. Some of the first whites were slaves.

3. The Immaculate White Creation

The belief that America was the exclusive creation of Europeans. Africans were actually the first explorers of America. When
the first Spanish and French explorers entered America, they noted that Africans were living among the Indians.

4. Sambo in Wonderland

Although the shiftless shuck and jive Sambo image has been exploited, most slaves responded to slavery with tremendous resistance, often resorting to the ultimate rebellion, suicide.

5. The Great Emancipator

The Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves, nor was it intended to. That document was written in a way that it left 95% of the slaves in bondage. Our people were actually freed by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified on December 18,1865.

6. The Black Family Myth

Believe it or not, according to plantation records, most blacks during slavery grew up with a mother and a father. In fact, all the way through Jim Crow, census reports show the black family was every bit as stable as those in White America. This dispels the myth that the majority of our people came from families ripped apart by slavery.

7. The Missing Economic Gene

There is an overwhelming belief that there is no black business tradition. By the American Revolution, there were scores of prominent Black business leaders, including Samuel Fraunces, owner of New York' s Fraunces's Tavern, the favorite watering hole of George Washington, and James Forten, who employed 40 workers, Black and White, in his Philadelphia sail factory.

8. Fairy tale of White Generosity

The majority of black slaves reached freedom because of internal giving within the race, not white generosity. By 1831 there were more than 43 Black benevolent or mutual aid societies in Philadelphia alone, runned by free blacks.

9. Crabs in a Barrel

We have been generalized as a people who continually try to pull each other down. False. In every era of our history, you'll see prominent black leaders and businessmen who had full support of the people.

10. Myth of the Absent Black Worker

We have been labeled as a lazy people. However, the wealth of this country was founded on what Abraham Lincoln called "the 250 years of unrequited toil" of Black men and women.


(paraphrased from: Bennett, Lerone Jr, 10 biggest lies about black history. , Ebony, 05-01-2001, pp 86.)