ByGeorge! Online

Feb. 19, 2002

An American History for All of Us

A Conversation With Ambassador Karl F. Inderfurth

By Thomas Kohout

James O. Horton, Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and History, recently hosted a one-hour special, “A Fragile Freedom: African American Historic Sites,” on the History Channel Feb. 13. The program borrows segments from Horton’s latest book of the same name, exploring eight unique African American historic sites in Boston, New York, Jacksonville, FL, and Washington. The sites, which include the African Meeting House in Boston, show the strength of African American communities during the 1800s.

Horton developed the book as part of a 12-volume set he is editing for Oxford University Press, focusing on historical landmarks thematically. Included in the series is “Landmarks of the Civil War,” by Nina Silber and “Landmarks of the Revolution,” by Gary Nash.

Horton’s portion of the series covers traditional landmarks in African American history such as the African Meeting House; the Lott House in Brooklyn, NY; and the Frederick Douglass House in Washington. In addition to those more familiar points of history, however, Horton tosses in a few curves to keep readers on their toes.

“One of my landmarks is Pearl Harbor,” he says. “I chose this site purposefully so I would get the reaction that I, in fact, do get. ‘Pearl Harbor? A landmark of African American history?’ ”

Horton tells the story Cuba Gooding, Jr. made famous in his portrayal of Dorie Miller in the film “Pearl Harbor.” Miller, whose given name, Doris, was changed by the captain of the USS West Virginia, became the first African American to earn the Navy Cross for a string of heroic acts during the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941.

“I use his story to talk about race relations at the time of the second World War,” explains Horton. “That way, Pearl Harbor does become one of these monuments of African American history.”

As a noted historian who has worked on many projects that spotlight African American history, Horton often hears arguments that historians should focus on “real” history and not the compartmentalization of American history — women’s history, black history, Native American history. But, Horton explains, “as the social, political, and economic definitions change; as the racial definitions of society change; and as the power shifts in our society, so the expectations of what constitute real, legitimate, significant history change, too.

“Each generation interprets history to make sense of the questions of that generation,” he says. “If you look at the interpretation of the American Revolution in the generation after the revolution, they were trying to understand what this revolution was about and what it said about the American national identity.”

He explains that the slogan, “African American history is American history, made by Americans, in America,” from his last book, “Hard Road to Freedom” played a key role in “Fragile Freedom.”

“That’s one of the things I say over and over again in the show. It’s actually the last line in the show I say, ‘these places belong to all of us.’ ”

If you missed the History Channel program, you can still catch Horton on the cable television network as a regular panelist on HistoryCENTER, anchored by Steve Gillon, from the University of Oklahoma, discussing current issues from an historical perspective.

 

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