Knowing Our History

Jonathan Holloway
President and University Professor

This essay appears in the Rutgers Today story, “Reflections on Black History,” published to mark Black History Month.

February 4, 2021

The world changed in the winter and spring of 2020 when a series of racially motivated murders unfolded in front of the nation's and the world's eyes. Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd are the most famous names on this heartbreaking roll call. I can extend several guesses as to why these deaths finally aroused a public that had been comfortable in its anemic understanding of the terms and conditions of Black life in the United States. At some point, though, the guessing doesn't matter. What does matter is determining what we are going to do about it. There is no one solution to the problems that led to Taylor's, Arbery's and Floyd's deaths, but there are any number of ways that individuals can start to make a difference. As a professor I will always start with emphasizing education. As a professor who specializes in African American history, I believe that we will become a better (and safer) country once we understand the Black experience.

While the very public deaths in 2020 raised a certain consciousness, they were but the latest losses in a long history of violence directed toward Black people. This violence has been experienced by citizens who were doing nothing more threatening than playing in a park or wearing a hoodie. Others have been murdered for doing something more destabilizing: registering to vote, buying a home, going to school, making eye contact. What lessons do we take from these facts? What does it say about us that our fellow citizens died for exercising their rights, for accumulating property, for pursuing an education…for being human?

When we commit ourselves to learning the breadth of this nation's history we cannot help but be changed for the better. I'm not saying that this is an easy or pleasant task, but anything worth having and celebrating requires hard work.

Holloway’s new book, "The Cause of Freedom: A Concise History of African Americans" (Oxford University Press) was published this month.