One Must Learn How To Be Black

Very Few Black People Ever Embraced Back To Africa Movements, And Very Few Actually, A Tiny Number Actually Went Back To Africa. They Said, "we Are Going To Make America Live Up To The Ideals Of The Declaration Of Independence And The Constitution Of The United States." They Produced One Of The World's Great Cultures; They Produced Individuals Who Were Just As Brilliant And Made Contributions To The World Civilization. In Fact, They Produced A World-class Civilization, The African American Civilization, In Music, In Dance, In Oratory, In Religion, In Writing.

Keeping The Union Together, Freeing Slaves And Being Assassinated All Added Up To Creating 'lincoln The Myth.' He Overcame A Lot Of His Own Prejudices And Became What Many Would Consider The First Black Man's President.

The Biggest Surprise For Me, Without A Doubt, Was That The First Black People Who Came To The United States Weren't The 20 Who Arrived In Jamestown In 1619. All Of Us Had Been Taught That. The First African Came To Florida In 1513. And The Huge Shock Is We Know His Name, Juan Garrido, And That He Wasn't A Slave. He Was Free!

It Is The Black Poet Who Bridges The Gap In Tradition, Who Modifies Tradition When Experience Demands It, Who Translates Experience Into Meaning And Meaning Into Belief.

You Have To Have A Canon So The Next Generation Can Come Along And Explode It.