When people post historical articles highlighting Black achievements or women they get lots of likes, but their stories still are not included in the regular history books. (I know because I am helping my third-grader navigate American history from home.) Including histories of minorities and women forces the reader to face a lot of negative history of white people in general and men in particular. Being a woman or a minority was and is harder because of bad treatment from those in power.
For example, I just read an article about Dr. May Edward Chinn, a Black woman doctor who helped develop the PAP smear in the 1920-30s. Even though she was a fully educated cancer doctor, she was barred from working at the New York City hospitals. The only way she could get the additional training and information she needed for her research was to accompany patients as their “family doctor.” She wasn’t even considered a colleague. When you read about her discoveries and achievements, you’re also forced to grapple with institutional racism and sexism.
The story of the female astronauts left out of the first space launches breaks my heart. Even though they passed all the tests, there was a military experience stipulation added because women weren’t allowed to fly combat in the military. Even recently, a woman astronaut could not complete her space walk because they didn’t include a space suit in her size.
Today, many prominent Japanese-Americans you might hear about spent some their childhood in an Internment camp. The American government put them there because white people were afraid of them based on ancestry alone and many families lost homes and businesses because of it. Punching random Asians on the street because of Covid-19 is just the latest iteration of lashing out on people who don’t look like the majority.
We wouldn’t be dealing with so much violence and rancor if we acknowledged every person and every event that has brought us to this place. The fear of the other is still there.
We don’t need to be the same to get along. Our different backgrounds and experiences is what makes this country so rich and beautiful. We have to deal with our shared history honestly and completely. Someday we won’t need to highlight Women’s History or Black History because it will be acknowledged as American History and it will include us all.
