Chinua Achebe’s goal in combating stereotypes about the Africans and the African continent is remarkably consistent with the views of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the father of black history and the second African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In his 1933 book, The Mis-Education of the Negro, Woodson writes, “From literature the African was excluded altogether. He was not supposed to have expressed any thought worth knowing. The philosophy in the African proverbs and in the rich folklore of that continent was ignored to give preference to that developed on the distant shores of the Mediterranean.” Woodson argues that blacks are systematically indoctrinated into believing in the concept of Negro inferiority, which starts from a dismissal of the African continent.
Africans in the diaspora must know black history—all of it. When this understanding of African history, African American history, and the inextricable link between the two occurs, we will see an inspired black youth so dedicated to academic achievement that they will have no appetite for engaging in destructive behaviors. This is the power of understanding one’s history. This is why Chinua Achebe picked up his pen. Hopefully, just as “Dictionary” rose to international prominence as an intellectual and literary icon, many more black literary greats will follow his blueprint and emerge from the most improbable and disadvantageous of locations to incredible zeniths.
Article Appeared @http://thyblackman.com/2013/04/04/yes-remembering-chinua-achebe/