What are the three “secrets” of African American history?

The great book collector of black history was Arthur Schomburg. He was a Puerto Rican of African descent, whose assemblage of books, manuscripts, and art form the basis of what is now the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library, the world’s largest collection of its kind. Schomburg’s collecting was not merely a hobby. He set out to prove through the documentation of the past that much of what we think of as black history has in fact been ignored, forgotten, or even deliberately distorted. After a lifetime of gathering material, Schomburg said that there are three important things that he had learned, that there are three secrets which the study of black history and culture reveal.

JULY 5, 1943 at 12:30 A.M.

Boise City, Oklahoma was the only city in the United States to be bombed during World War II. On Monday night, July 5, 1943, at approximately 12:30 a.m., a B-17 Bomber based at Dalhart Army Air Base (50 miles to the south of Boise City) dropped six practice bombs on the sleeping town. The
practice bombs weighed 100 pounds each and contained four pounds of powder – the rest was sand. Several locations across town display the remains of these bombs.

The first bomb dropped through the roof of a frame garage owned by F.F. Bourk northwest of the courthouse and only 39 feet from an apartment complex where several families were sleeping. The concussion of the bomb tore through the roof and floor and blasted a crater about 20 by 40 inches. In a few minutes, the plane appeared again dropping another bomb which grazed the west wall of the old First Baptist Church – about 100 feet from the first hit, tearing a hole in the earth about 30 inches in diameter and about 48 inches deep. The third bomb hit the sidewalk about 200 feet north of the courthouse, making a crater about the size of the first. The fourth bomb struck the ground a few feet from a fuel transport truck. The driver lit out immediately and has probably never been back since. The fifth bomb struck the ground 80 feet from a local home and the sixth bomb fell far from any buildings on the southeast of town.

At this time an electric company employee turned off the electricity and put the city into darkness. About this time a soldier visiting from the base called the proper authorities at the base to inform them of what was happening.

The next day, officials from the Dalhart Army Air Base visited Boise City and explained that the plane had been assigned to drop bombs on a range near Conlen, Texas, about 30 miles south of Boise City, but somehow got off their mark and mistook the four street lights around the courthouse in the center of town for the lights of their target.

“Remember the Alamo, remember Pearl Harbor, and for God’s sake – - remember Boise City!”

Today the majority of Black Canadians are recent immigrants who have come from either the Caribbean or Africa. These immigrants far outnumber those who have come from the U.S. However, the U.S. immigrants formed Canada’s earliest Black communities and closely link the histories of the two countries. Though Blacks have immigrated to Canada from the U.S. since the time of the earliest European settlements up until the present, the majority of the early Black immigrants came as a result of three significant American historical events: the American Revolution (1775-1783), the War of 1812 (1812-1814), and the Underground Railway movement (1830-1865). A total of over 35,000 Blacks immigrated during these three periods: approximately 5,500 came during the American Revolution; 2,000 during the War of 1812; and over 30,000 when the Underground Railway was in operation.

You may have heard of Rosa Parks, the American woman who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person in Alabama, triggering a nation-wide protest & demand for reform. Canada has its own Rosa, a woman by the name of Viola Desmond. Her crime was this: when stopping in a town unknown to her, she mistakenly sat in the locally known “whites only” section of a theatre. Although she offered to pay the difference in ticket price so as to be able to remain in her seat, she was arrested & fined. Carrie Best, the founder of Nova Scotia’s first newspaper for blacks, heard of the story & wrote about it. This happened in 1946, nine years before Rosa Park’s own brave act. Viola and Carrie organized other blacks to lobby the Nova Scotia government, which finally repealed the law of segregation in 1954. Meet Carrie Best, still working in her community at the age of 94.