and Fox News? Stop the presses. Glenn Beck (and Fox News) have discovered that black people actually made history in the United States of America since before there was a United States of America. They are gasping at swooning at the Root, but I think the saddest thing is that so many people of color in the audience have no idea who the people in the pictures on Glenn Beck’s stage are.
Today’s Black History Moment brought to you by… Glenn Beck?
9 responses to “Today’s Black History Moment brought to you by… Glenn Beck?”
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I’m not surprised at all. Shows intentionally go out and find audience members to suit their purpose. Keep in mind that when Oprah gave away all those cars we later found out that she had filled her audience with public school teachers. That’s what talk shows do….fill the audience with people to achieve a certain result. This time they found people who are uninformed and unaware.
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Hmmm. They do have a tendency to pack audiences to fit their topics.
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I’m not sure I believe you that the audience is packed. I had AP American History in a high school ranked in the top one hundred in the nation and I only remember hearing about maybe 2 out of the dozen of icons Beck mentioned. Exactly how many of those people that were mentioned on the show had you heard of before watching? Do you really think the general population of blacks (not just the allegedly uninformed audience) have heard of people like Joseph H. Raine, the first black member of Congress, or Prince Whipple, the black militia member who fought in the Rev. War? What percentage of the black population do you think knows those names. 10%, 20%? Even if it’s that high, I’d be willing to say that the audience was still a good sampling. There may be people who have heard of those, but it’s not the typical black person. Where exactly would they have heard about them? Not in primary or secondary school. Not in college unless they majored in history, maybe. Not on the news. Not on the history channel, how many black people watch that channel? Most people in this country don’t even know who the current speaker of the house is! I bet most blacks, and all other people too, don’t know about the people Beck talked about.
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Hi Stephanie. (apologies to everyone else for this long comment)
I had advanced history courses in my high school, which is ranked elite status, which means that it exceeds the criteria by which the top 100 are ranked to such an extent that it’s not fair to compare them. Diva In Demand said that shows intentionally go out and find audience members to suit their purpose, and I agreed that happens. We did not say that is the case for the Beck show, though we would not be surprised.
Some of the black people in the audience did not even recognize Frederick Douglass and all of the black people I know would recognize Frederick Douglass. I think there was one story that I had not read about on Beck’s show, but I read a lot of books and have family, friends and mentors who are passionate about the achievements and contributions of black people in this country.
I know about the African American members of Congress before and after Reconstruction, quite a few of the African Americans who fought in the Revolutionary war for the Americans and for the British (not to mention quite a few blacks who contributed to life in the colonies), and countless other black inventors, physicians, scientists, authors, poets, entrepreneurs, and so on. My knowledge of the historic achievements if blacks is not limited to the United States, either.
I think it is good that people like Beck have had an awakening about the fact that people of color (and their contributions are great) are left out of the volumes of the history of our nation, but I know that there are more of us out there who read books and know things than you are attempting to give credit for.-
Hi tjsthings, I’m glad you know a number of people who know about the black icons and history makers. But if you don’t mind telling me, where were they able to gain knowledge about it? Very few people are able to attend high schools ranked at an elite status. I’m glad you don’t assume that the audience was packed. And I agree that it’s sad that many audience members didn’t know any of those names mentioned. However, I graduated from college with a dual bachelor degree in architecture and interior architecture; so that didn’t require much history. I’m a black woman and I myself had only heard of 2 or 3 of the people mentioned. (Although I did write every single name down and plan to buy books about them so I’ll know more.) It places the responsiblity on me to read and research about them since my trade is not related to history directly and never heard about it in primary or secondary school. There’s nothing wrong with that, but how many of the black population aside from the people you know do you think is willing to do that and has been doing that? Or else what is their source of knowledge since they didn’t all go to elite high schools? My point is just that I don’t see why you’re suprised that the audience didn’t know much. I’m an educated person, and neither did I. I hope to change that for me, but not everyone reads in their free time. Not even everyone watches the news.
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There are a number of books about black history makers in just about every aspect of American society. A really good place to start is the Africans in America web site on PBS. The documentary is a broad summary of the history of blacks in the US from 1450 to the Civil War period. I think that you can use that overview and look for information everywhere from your local library to Amazon.com. If you get stuck, my email is tjsthings.theblog@gmail.com. I’ll help in any way I can.
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Stephanie….you mentioned that you place the responsibility on yourself to become more educated about blacks in history. I believe that it’s not uncommon for intelligent people (whether educated or not) to have the desire to do the same. Any race who is interested in their history will go outside of traditional methods for knowledge…so yes, it’s hard to fathom that they just miraculously FOUND enough people to sit in a studio audience who didn’t know anything about black in history.
I didn’t major in history either, but as a graduate of a top 10 high school myself, in Texas (where we know that they work hard to keep blacks out of the history books), I was aware of most of the people mentioned on the show by junior high.
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Hi Diva (in Demand), you’re right. Most intelligent people want would want to know more about their history and take the initiative to do so. But they must first know what they don’t know. If you don’t know what you don’t know, then how can you take steps to find out about what you don’t know? You know what I mean? So my point is still the same, if most people (not just most black people but most people)intelligent and average did not go to an elite high school, where are they expected to have learned about these historical figures? I think they would have assumed they didn’t exist, since other black figures have been included like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas. They didn’t know, what they didn’t know.
Thanks tjsthings!
TJs Things 
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