Why history matters when making good people

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Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events.”
-
Robert Kennedy

This post is a continuation of the thoughts I shared last month. I concluded that post with, “We explore the related history, the causes, the impact, and how we collectively and individually can alter course and bring our message of inclusivity to bear.”

As part of our exploration we have undertaken to help our kids participate in Black History Month by learning in particular about the history of the Black community in Oakville. In doing so they will discover some of the significant contributions and achievements of people of colour right in our own backyard.

For example, Jamaican-born Oakville native Donovan Bailey was for some time the fastest man in the world. His athletic accomplishments and gold-medal winning performances are what brought him great notoriety and he has gone on to play a significant role in influencing young people not only in Oakville but across the country. As he commented, “Our people historically have gone through a lot. That is our story. You can trace it all the way back to slavery. But it is incumbent upon everyone, no matter what field, to make it easier on the next generation.”

Lincoln Alexander of Hamilton was the first Black Canadian member of Parliament and lieutenant-governor of Ontario. It was a 1960 tour of 23 African nations that had a significant impact on his life outlook as a Black man. He wrote, “The experience was an eye-opener for me, not only as a lawyer, but also as a human being, because I began to realize what Black people could do. I saw that, unlike the Hollywood version, these Africans were men and women of significant talents. I became conscious of my Blackness. I had come from a White world. Now we were in Africa, and I realized we are people of skill and creativity. I was a Black man and I was a somebody. I started standing tall.”

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Digging deeper into Oakville history we learn of James Wesley Hill an escaped slave who crossed the Potomac River into Pennsylvania and then across the border in a packing box. Hill made several trips to Maryland, leading African Americans back to Oakville along the Underground Railroad. Making many courageous return trips he was responsible for bringing over 700 slaves to freedom.

“Where ignorance lurks, so too do the frontiers of discovery and imagination”
Neil deGrasse Tyson

We acknowledge that we can’t do complete justice to the subject matter but when we commit to making the stories of others part of our curriculum - part of our life experience - we go some way to honouring their contributions and acknowledging the great privilege that many of us enjoy.

History matters when you’re engaged in making good people. History informs how we interpret what is happening around us. It provides insight into the motivations behind social change and provides momentum to embracing change.

So, while this is only one month, Walden International School is committed to ensuring that our children move into society with a broad grasp of what is true and are motivated to create positive change. This is part of the manner in which we lead our community to learn that we all have choice, that we needn’t meekly accept the approved vision of history and that it is in the art of exploration that we genuinely learn.

Daphne Perugini