TOOLS FOR THE JOURNEY: PACK YOUR BAGS, PEOPLE.

Or not. Optional resources that are super helpful. Introducing the Trail itself and some recommended books.

This dispatch will answer three general questions and kick off a short series of posts about the books that inspired this project. 

Question one: Where can I find the Florida Black Heritage Trail?

For Florida readers, there is a very good chance that it might be somewhere in your backyard (or near it). However, regardless of geography, it can be “followed” online. 

The Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources links to the Florida Black Heritage Trail document. It is about 64 pages long with pictures, artwork, and historical sites of note. 

You can “flip” through it right here, or download it in PDF form and print it out here. If you are so inclined there are some other trails too. If you look at those as well (especially after reading the lovely books below) you will probably begin to pick out the ways these trails intersect over and over again. Within the 64 pages, is a compilation of directions of locations to visit, helpful visitor information, and a short overall view of the impact Black Floridians have had on the state. 

Question two: What should I read? 

I once saw a production of the Sound Of Music at a Catholic University in a master-planned community that was almost entirely made up of Catholic students. The plot of this musical and the point of the planned community was not necessarily designed to be a Catholic recruitment machine, but both did a number on me. 

I was ready to ditch my Non-Denominational spin-off Baptists for the nuns by the second act (This conviction was only followed by a strong desire to convert to Judaism after watching The Prince of Egypt). The universally accepted calendars, the litanies that remain the same in war and peace, and the way every little person moves along a much larger year of marked observances just spoke to me.

The church's emphasis on seasons, narratives, and the perspective that something greater than us came before and will continue long after has always been humbling. I think Catholicism (and so many other faith traditions dating thousands of years) understands the importance of providing touchstones and trails into memory and the shared past. My high school, built by the Protestant hands of men who had a specific dream for the future and a vision for the graduates, said that the end depends on the beginning. This was inscribed in marble for us to remember. To this day, if you take a campus tour you can still find several other points of instruction chiseled into the hallways and doorframes. All communities made up of humans are fallible, but a commitment to self-reflection and remembrance can make all the difference in determining how to now live. Finding mentors and respected writers who can give us a sense of perspective about our own country is vital. 

Most of us are never going back to a grade school history class. And those who still have years of education ahead of them are probably not going to see a massive shift in how history is taught anytime soon. It's going to be some time before many states figure out a way to fundamentally shift course with their curricula. Unfortunately, support for history that takes into account race and class is now a litmus test of one’s commitment to certain political parties. This particular culture war has been going on for a while and will continue for as long as politicians can squeeze conflict out of it. 

If we’re going to walk the Florida Black Heritage Trail - which due to its nature and impact on your state belongs to you no matter what you look like - we'll need some guideposts. We also need real bona fide, trained guides. For now, those will come in the form of respected authors I think you will appreciate and enjoy. 

If the overall goal is to make more sense of the present moment through gaining context, we can begin with a few books that have been doing that for years. Full admission: some of these I am still reading and am still deep in the weeds with them. That said, all of these books have stood the test of time, been reissued several times with glowing reviews, are accepted as logical, sound research, and do not trade in debunked theories or wild speculation. You will find measured, well-written materials below. 

The Short (Book) List: 

James Loewen’s book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, is truly unmissable. Loewen is a well-respected American writer and sociologist, and the thrust of his work is all about understanding the history textbooks American school children are given and what that is doing to all of us. He does break down several major historical lies that all of us were taught, but the brilliance of the book is in how he uses these examples as a way to teach us ordinary, non-historian types about 1: Why contextual history matters, 2: the process by which our history textbooks are made, and 3: what we can do about that. Read this book if you want to know why/how you were taught the way you were taught, what ideas are crippling our textbooks' ability to teach us anything useful, and how our history can be better understood and processed at all ages. 

Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of The United States is a game-changer. Using short, simple chapters, Zinn looks at our famous history and founding from the perspective of ordinary people. This is in contrast to the typical view of American history that frames all events through the lens of an endlessly victorious, inevitable democratic republic. Most of our American history is taught with an emphasis on the effects, not the causes. This makes our current moment or our history seem inevitable and destined, as opposed to constructed. Zinn is going over the country’s timeline you already know but with the cause and effect all in plain sight. Zinn demonstrates through examples and source documents exactly how different human ideas, fears, beliefs, and desires shaped the laws, actions, and societies of pre-Revolution America and post-Revolution America.  When was racism as an idea weaponized through law? What effect did the structure of Native American civilizations have on Puritan law? What motivated the influx of indentured servants in the mid-1700s? Tracing from time point to time point, you’ll get a much clearer idea as to how we ended up here. The aforementioned Loewen would approve of the way context and memory are used here to give readers a good understanding of the formation of this nation.

David Dark’s book, Life's Too Short To Pretend You’re Not Religious is super helpful if you want to understand how our ideas and actions form us and the communities we live in. Dark is concerned with our “messy alliances”, the conflicting, human, and various beliefs (and the actions that follow) that make us who we are. As Dark says, he’s “putting everyone under the microscope”.  Dark gives us a way to view the actions and practices of ourselves and others as constituting a kind of “religion”.  This is not a history book, but it was key to helping me understand how to break down the ways privately held beliefs become public legislation and social realities. Understanding how government, laws, and societies are reflections of the beliefs we hold about each other is key to understanding the past and present beliefs that hold together our current society.  If history is truly the memory of people, then we would do well to learn how to remember the beliefs motivating the people and their subsequent actions. The book will inspire you to examine your American liturgy. 

Paula Giddings’ book, When and Where I Enter. Giddings writes about how Black women across our history have shaped this country because of their race and sex. You will meet some inspiring and brilliant women in this book, and see familiar points in time from a different perspective. Female autonomy, citizenship, motherhood, and marriage in this society have been tensely negotiated throughout the formation of America. This book is remarkable in how it provides context to these subjects. Toni Morrison called it “priceless”. 

Question 3: What can I expect from here on out? 

First, in the coming weeks, we’re going to do some deep dives into some of the arguments and ideas from a few of the books mentioned here. These authors skew towards hopeful and measured perspectives. They have advice and ideas that will enrich our understanding of and prepare us for the stories we will encounter on the trail. 

Secondly, we’re going to quickly look at the difference between Critical Race Theory, the framework, versus the diverse proposals and considerations held by some theorists. Unfortunately at this moment in time, we’re witnessing calls from influential leaders to dispose of the entire framework -CRT- because some of the conclusions and proposals it has inspired are considered offensive. For example, applying a Critical Race framework to the history of Georgetown University allows us to understand just how much race and slavery deeply impacted and built the foundations of that institution. It gives us context to understand current dynamics that might still be at play in the university. Now, that framework is not the same thing as proposals as to what to do about that history. Someone might say that because the university sold 272 human beings, the university should write a formal apology. Or close down forever. Or erect a monument to the 272 humans and families who were cruelly torn apart and unable to practice their religion as they desired. The fact that some (or all) of these proposals might be crazy, offensive, or unnecessary to you is one thing. But your feelings and reaction to the proposals are not a valid reason to throw out the very framework that shows us how race impacted the institution in the first place. The proposals could be wrong or unhelpful. But that is a different thing altogether from the framework that inspired them. We can’t throw out a whole helpful framework because we don’t like some of the ideas that some people have after they engage with it. More on this later. 

Finally, highlighted stories from the trail that directly speak to questions of today, short audio/ film resources, and more books will follow. 

I would encourage readers to get a hold of these books for themselves in the links included or from their local bookstore or library (not sponsored by any of them, this is an independent recommendation). If you have a book that you think is perfect for our journey, please comment below or send in an email. I would love to hear from you. 

That’s all for this week. Happy reading and exploring!