This is Carter G Woodson.
Son of former slaves he taught himself how to read and write and eventually got a Ph.D from Harvard.
As you can see in his younger pick the look is one of I don’t F*#% around. In his older pic he looks as if to say I know something you don’t. His book the Miseducation of the Negro is a must read.
Here are some quotes I think that are very relevant today.
“The race will free itself from exploiters just as soon as it decides to do so. No one else can accomplish this task for the race. It must plan and do for itself.”
“History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning.”
“Why not exploit, enslave, or exterminate a class that everybody is taught to regard as inferior?”
“In schools of theology Negroes are taught the interpretation of the Bible worked out by those who have justified segregation and winked at the economic debasement of the Negro at times almost to the point of starvation.”
I love and agree with everything in this post. However, we as a people need to stop calling ourselves slaves or former slaves. That narrative is outdated. Lets go with what’s appropriate today, “former enslaved people”. 🙂