A Black Historian and author, Irene Smalls grew up in Harlem, where Double Dutch was her favorite game.
She graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in Black Studies and New York University with an M.B.A.
She is the author of 15 books for children, including Kevin and his Dad (published by Little, Brown).
Irene Smalls lectures at schools and conferences around the country. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
In tribute to William Tucker, the first documented African-American baby in the US, Irene
Smalls has written a love song for Black baby boys everywhere, ”
An Affirmation Nite Baby Nite.” www.nitebabynite.com
Reading the colonial court records from the 1600s, a picture of the beginning of Black History emerges that is somewhat egalitarian. In Virginia in 1619, some of the first Africans brought to this country aboard the ship the White Lion were treated as indentured servants. There were no slave laws in the colonies until 1705 in Virginia. Indentured Africans who worked alongside White indentured servants were freed after seven years of labor. Under indentured servitude, there was a certain amount of, shall we say, commingling. Colonial judges were clear: if you impregnated a woman, you were fined and had to pay. They fined white men for impregnating black women, and they fined black men for impregnating white women.
But no judge was necessary in the case of Antony and Isabela; two Africans brought Virginia the first 20-som. Love was their law. Their union gave birth to the first documented African-American, William Tucker, born on January 3, 1623. Their child was official. Their child was documented. Antony and Isabela formed their family while indentured. In 1624, one-year-old William Tucker, their son, was baptized. Antony and Isabela, after being kidnapped in Africa, captured by pirates and forced into indentured labor for seven years, finally freed in 1635, homesteaded a family farm in Kent County, Virginia. While Antony and Isabela did not have last names, their son, William Tucker, had a previous name. In these snippets from the historical record, we get glimpses into who two of the kidnapped Africans, Antony, and Isabela, were as parents and as people—a view not often given of Black people and Black History.
In 1933, G. Carter Woodson wrote in his groundbreaking book, “The Miseducation of the Negro,” that Black children were being culturally indoctrinated that they were inferior.
Having spent the last 25 years visiting schools nationwide, I agree with Woodson’s view. As a Black children’s author with a degree in Black studies, I am often invited to do Black History Month presentations. Too frequently, when I come in, the Black students have their heads down. They seem to project Black History as solely about degradation. The brutality and horror of African-American enslavement in the US cannot be denied, but Black History is also about love, resilience, and faith, like the love, resilience, and trust of Antony and Isabela, two of the first documented Africans forcibly brought to America. Racist beliefs and systems do not allow this fuller story to be told.
Scientists tell us that babies see color at around three months of age.
But color has no meaning. To a baby, red is as good as black’s good, as yellows, as good as green, and as good as white. Children have to be taught to be racists. People ask why racism continues to exist. The answer is simple. We teach racism in our schools to generation after generation. We teach racism by omitting the stories of black people in this country. If an educational system teaches one group to do everything, what is the logical conclusion we force upon our children? On one Black History Month school visit, a young Black boy asked me, “Why did White people do everything?” My response was, “White people did not do everything. White people wrote most of the books, and White people put mainly White people in those books.”
In the 1940s, Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted the landmark ‘Doll Study.” In the “Doll Study,” Black children ages 3-7 preferred to play with white dolls. The Black children said the black dolls were ‘bad’ while the white dolls were ‘good.’ The dolls were identical except for their skin color. The Clarks concluded that “prejudice, discrimination and segregation” created a feeling of inferiority among African-American children and damaged their self-esteem. The Clarks also concluded prejudice, discrimination, and segregation damaged White children as well. Racism teaches Whites to act against their self-interests. The greater good for all people benefits whites as well as blacks. When a Professor recreated the “Doll Study” in 2021, similar results were found: young Black girls preferred white dolls.
Recently, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Stop WOKE Act into law in Florida. While Black History is still required instruction in Florida under the Stop WOKE Act, Black history excludes the perspectives of Black Americans. Florida’s teachers must now instruct middle-school students: “Enslaved people developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their benefit.” Furthermore, in terms of American business, despite numerous studies showing DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs) increase profitability and market share, attacks on DEI in business continue.
By 2050, America will be a majority-minority country. White Americans, for the first time in history, will be and will remain a minority group in America. By embracing our actual past, we can embrace the undeniable future. This Black History Month reflects that America is a history in which diverse groups played a part. This Black History Month, remember Black history, despite it all, began with a Black love story. The horror and hatred visited upon Black people in this country cannot be allowed to take away from Black agency and sincere beginnings. Black History began with a love story.
Source: 1 https://hampton.gov/3580/The-1619-Landing-ReportFAQs#:~:text=In%20late%20August%2C%201619%2C%2020,Virginia%20with% 20additional%20enslaved%20Africans
Source: 2 https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/indentured-servants-in-colonial-virginia/
Source: 3 https://apnews.com/article/north-america-us-news-race-and-ethnicityafrica-va-state-wire-3501ba52dba0455597b3e7a330d2f50c
Source: 4 “The Miseducation of the Negro” by G. Carter Woodson. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/ 242936.The_Mis_Education_of_the_Negro
Source:5 https://www.naacpldf.org/brown-vs-board/significance-doll-test/
Source:6. https://theconversation.com/what-i-learned-when-i-recreated-the-famous-dolltest-that-looked-at-how-black-kids-see-race-153780
Source: 7. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/black-history-florida-ron-desantis
Source: 8. https://www.linkedin.com/business/sales/blog/diversity-inclusion-belonging/ diversity-inclusive-impact-on-sales-Forrester-report
Source: 9. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinamilanesi/2023/04/20/the-businessimpact-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion/?sh=244be72f6630
Source: 10. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045census-projects/
