2008 Woodie Awards
Social, civic organizations key to racial identity
Professor discusses black identity before the civil rights movement as part of Black History Month.
By Rennie Murrell
Last update: 5/17/06 at 8:20 AM CST
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It does not matter where people come from or where on the social ladder they stand, unity in numbers is the strength of a community.
That was the message of Trinity University history Professor Carey H. Latimore IV during a lecture Feb. 23 in Loftin Student Center.
About 250 students and faculty attended the event that was offered as part of this college's observance of Black History Month.
"Most people think of the black identity as starting during the 1960s and the civil rights movement.
"To understand the African-American experience, one needs to travel back to revolutionary America to witness the beginnings of the black identity through their civic and social organizations," Latimore said.
For black Americans, the Revolutionary War was a radical movement, Latimore said.
"The fact is that at one point, blacks could function together with whites, and as the revolutionary period ended, they were excluded from an integrated society," Latimore said.
"When you're a minority, when you are one of the few, it's all right, but when you integrate, you quickly become a threat," Latimore said.
"Now that you have freed the blacks, what happens to them when white Americans do not want them?" Latimore asked the audience.
"They started forming their own communities, businesses and schools, churches and graveyards."
Latimore said whenever there is a large population in one area - whether black, Hispanic or any other ethnic community - the rejection of those communities is because race is a threat.
"As they become excluded from the mainstream, they seek to join organizations," he said.
These types of exclusion were happening after the blacks became free men, and the exclusion still exists today
"Since they were being excluded, blacks voiced their dissent, that they were not going to be excluded," Latimore said. "They were going to form their own organizations, their own society."
After the revolution, blacks formed their own organizations because they saw what it was to be an American.
"That's why you come to America to become Americans, to be equal," he said.
Free blacks wanted to worship in church, and they were allowed to worship in the white churches, but they had to sit in the back of the church, Latimore said.
So they started their own churches.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church was formed as a separate denomination because of racism, Latimore said.
Burial grounds in the upper North and in the South were burying only white people so the blacks formed their own burial ground societies, Latimore said.
"It becomes your benevolence; it becomes a way for you to have something that society will not offer you," he said.
Sociology Professor Gloria Pimentel asked Latimore about the influence of black sororities and fraternities in opening doors.
Blacks formed their own sororities and fraternities in the early 20th century, Latimore said.
These organizations also give members a sense of pride, he said.
The move to integrate all aspects of society today causes a dilemma for people who have built up their own organizations and institutions.
"I think sometimes it scares people, and some people are of good will and think we need to integrate," he said. "But how do you tell a group of people who have had their organization for over 100 years to get rid of it now and come to the mainstream?
"We should look at it that way and appreciate those institutions for their historical and social impact and not just try to get rid of them to be politically correct," Latimore said.
The problem with America is the failure to admit that race has an impact, Latimore said.
"If you look at the polls, 57 percent of blacks say race matters, and 17 percent of whites say race matters. So why do we have this kind of divergence between blacks and whites?" he asked.
"Something is wrong with America and our society. We are not addressing racial poverty. We can't talk about a lot of things, but there is one thing that we do need to talk about in America, and that is race."
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