As Black History Month rapidly comes to a close, the NAACP has made efforts to remind UB students of the legacy of blacks in America.
The NAACP hosted a timeline display called "The Black Xperience" in the Student Union on Tuesday.
"The timeline shows the past, present and future of how far African Americans have come," said Sharee Hereford, a senior sociology major and the president of NAACAP. "A lot of people don't remember that African Americans have a history, so this is a brief overview."
The exhibit begins in the past, with posters about slavery, the Reconstruction Era, segregation and the Civil Right Movement.
Many little-known facts are part of the presentation, such as that slavery began in 14th century with Europeans taking Africans against their will to be servants in their homes and that between 1540 and 1850, about 15 million slaves were transported from Africa to be sold in America.
"A lot of people just see slavery; they don't see the entirety of the African American's place throughout American history," Hereford said.
Such aspects include several acts implemented during the Civil Rights Movement, such as The Civil Right Acts of 1964 and 1968, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965, Brown v. The Board of Education and the foundation of the Black Panthers, an organization geared toward promoting civil rights and self defense for black Americans.
"This timeline shows you the pain and the struggle that African Americans have endured. We have put a lot of work into America through our hardships and suffering," Hereford said. "But it also shows the opportunities we have gained and that we have the ability to keep fighting."
As the exhibit moves to the present, it shows African American advancement in education, entertainment, economics and politics. Today, three quarters of African American college students attend historically black colleges and universities and 80% of blacks in medical professions receive their degrees from Howard University or Meharry Medical College.
African Americans made headway in politics as early as the 1800's with Hiram Rhodes Revels serving as senator of Mississippi from 1870-1871 and Blanche K. Bruce serving as senator of Mississippi from 1875-1881. He was the first black man to serve a full term as senator. In more recent times there have been several African Americas in the senate, including Edward W. Brooke, Carol Moseley Braun and Barack Obama.
"We're obviously doing well in many aspects. We have a lot of opportunities to do well, we just have to take advantage of them," Hereford said.
While many African Americas reached middle class status during the 1990's, African American unemployment is down to 7% and the number of African Americans living below the poverty line has dropped from 31% to 21%, there are several issues still plaguing the African America community. Black men earn 73% the amount of money that their white men earn, and 65.9% of loans requested by black for starting businesses are turned down, in comparison to 29% of loans requested by whites.
The timeline concludes with a split ending with a positive and negative future for African Americans.
"We tried to keep the possible outcomes grounded in reality. We didn't get too farfetched." said Hereford.
The positive future includes the development of stronger black family systems with decreased divorce rates and less children living foster care. Education is reformed to abolish the no child left behind act and the need for vouchers for equal education opportunities in predominantly black public schools.
In economics, African Americans become more involved in corporate America and own more businesses. Their income increases 15% and there are more blacks in the upper middle class. In politics, the first African American president and vice president are elected and there are more blacks in other political offices, especially senate.
The negative future for African Americans is bleak. The family structure is depleted, with more black men in jail and more children in foster care. An increase in teen pregnancy creates a "black baby boom".
Education regresses, the timeline shows, with more children being advanced to higher grades without learning basic skills and fewer black people graduating high school and college. In economics, welfare, unemployment and debt increase. In politics, the first African American president is assassinated, blacks stop voting and politicians stop caring.
How the timeline actually ends is ultimately up to us, for it could easily go either way.
"The timeline is a reality check, to show how far we've come and how far we can go," said Hereford. "What we do today is our history tomorrow. What kind of history do you want?"
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
