Why the Necessity to Hide Black History

Too Hard to Explain to Their Children

Will Counts, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Take a good look at the cover photo. Elizabeth Eckford is the Black student, one of the Little Rock Nine, who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Three years after America’s schools were allegedly integrated with the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. Elizabeth was fifteen when she had to be escorted by a federalized National Guard to ensure her safety along with the other eight Black students. Remember when the National Guard used to protect minorities?

This photo is of the second attempt of the Little Rock Nine to enter the school. The first incident occurred two weeks earlier, when the Arkansas National Guard, acting under orders from Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, blocked her from entering. The Little Rock Nine originally intended to meet and arrive together, but the meeting place changed the night before. Elizabeth’s family had no telephone, so she didn’t get the word and came alone.

After the National Guard turned her away, Elizabeth fled to the bus stop through the mob. Some were threatening to lynch her for daring to come to their school. A white reporter sat next to her, saying, “Don’t let them see you cry.”

Eckford has nothing to hide about her history. Little Rock Central temporarily closed the following year, saying they couldn’t afford the cost of constant security. Eckford had enough credits to attend college. She received a BA from Central State University, a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in Wilberforce, OH. Elizabeth served in the United States Army and became a civil rights activist. Elizabeth Eckford has no reason to want her history omitted from the history books.

Will Counts, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Now imagine you were part of the mob surrounding her; look at their faces, see the hatred. Hazel Bryan is the white girl with an open mouth, screaming at Eckford.

“Go home, nigger! Go back to Africa!” — Hazel Bryan

Years later, Bryan, then Hazel Massery, reached out to Elizabeth to apologize. Hazel left her racist church and supported Black causes. The two became friends of a sort, appearing together publicly to discuss their experience. The friendship didn’t last because Massery didn’t receive the complete and public forgiveness she sought from Elizabeth, who didn’t absolve her of her racist actions.

Elizabeth Eckford and the story behind her iconic civil rights photo — Upworthy

Massery could well have solicited Eckford’s friendship to erase the oft-publicized image of her verbal assault and unbridled rage. She wanted to change a history in which she didn’t look good. Hazel had received critical mail for years after her photo was published across the country; she ultimately changed schools, her parents concerned for her safety.

Look again at the cover photo, and see the faces of all the other girls whose racist attitudes are evident. How do they explain their actions to their children? A dilemma facing many white Americans.

How do they explain Emmett Till?

By David Jackson — " See the photo Emmett Till’s mother wanted you to see", Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, August 28, 2020First published in Jet magazine, September 15, 1955, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=120579715

Or how you treated Martin Luther King, Jr. before you killed him?

City of Birmingham, Alabama, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I haven’t even touched on America’s reliance on enslavement, Black Codes, Jim Crow, and voter suppression to keep down those who continue to demand equality.

Part of the reason given for denying American History is the desire not to make some people feel bad. It’s why America never talks about the rape and forced breeding that grew the workforce at an astronomical rate, preferring to call it a “natural increase.”

Florida Teaches “Natural Increase” Instead of Forced Breeding and Rape | by William Spivey | AfroSapiophile | Medium

Part of the reason for denying history is to have the ability to repeat it. Systemic racism and voter suppression can’t be eradicated because it has never been admitted. Alcoholics know the first step to resolving their problem is Acceptance. Racists need to learn the same lesson.