Four Reflections on History

1. Last summer I taught a composition course for an IUSB program called the Leadership Academy. We studied Civil Rights history, mostly covering African American and Hispanic actions. The growth and empowerment of the African Americans and Hispanics seemed visible to the observer, but I also felt I could see all of us opening up and growing, moved and impressed by the beauty of this history.

2. I recently read a piece of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. While he was in prison, he became an avid reader. He discovered that black people had a history beyond slavery, and as he read history after history, his vision of his place in the world grew and grew.

3. Even in the final book in the Harry Potter series there is an interesting debate about how history is written. Hermione says, “Wizarding history often skates over what the wizards have done to other magical races.”

4. I have long been moved by this passage from Neil Postman which I think refers to the history of ideas more than the history of events: History…teaches…that the world is not created anew each day, that everyone stands on someone else’s shoulders.”