Africans, This is Why You Must Know Your History
Let us imagine, a man walks into a job interview and is asked the usual question “can you tell us about yourself?” Instead of confidently giving out the “I am”, “I did” and “I can” details, he looks lost and blank; definitely, the interviewee will remain jobless for failing to sell himself with his identity. What is identity really? It is the combination of who you were yesterday and who you are today, simple! Regardless of how ugly or beautiful a man’s yesterday was it will always form part of his identity. Okay, let us now replace the interviewee with Africans! What is our “We are”, “We did” and “We can” story?
Many ignorantly believe that having the mastery of one’s history is inessential and unprofitable— since wealth is perceived to be the end goal of every knowledge in today’s society. Yes, wealth is necessary but a body of knowledge will guide our communal trajectory even while holding the acquired wealth. The usual cliché is “what has happened has happened it should remain marooned in the past.” However, what happened in the past has a role to play in what will happen tomorrow; it is either you avoid yesterday’s error or you replicate past successful deeds.
What is history really? It is the account of a people’s past experience either written or verbal. One may ask why the Europeans claimed that Mongo Park, a Scottish explorer, at the expense of indigenous people who had lived with it for centuries, discovered River Niger in Africa which passes through the present Nigeria; is that not ridiculous? Oh! Do not forget that by default the study of history is equivalent to the study of The Great Depression, World Wars I and II, the Roman Empire, the era of Napoleon Bonaparte and other past western experience. Why the deliberate propagation of Eurocentric history even in Africa’s educational curricular by Europeans? There must be something important about history!
History (especially pre-colonial) of the African peoples as a wing of their cultures forms part of their identity. Why are the Kikuyu people in Kenya so attached to their land that they defended it with their lives against the colonialists? What are the peculiar features about the Yoruba people in the Western part of Nigeria and how did they come to being? What are the fascinating things (both from past and present) about these peoples? The history of the Madinka Empire and Oyo Empire among others will give an insight into the political system indigenous to the peoples involved. It is not a crime for a foreigner to be ignorant of these issues but it is inexcusable for indigenes not to know. Is that not the destination Africa is drifting towards? The destination of a large population arrogantly ignorant of their history and identity!
If you are bothered about the ‘unprofitability’ of history let us take a look at how valid the assertion is. One of the profits man can gain from his history is self confidence which is the first requirement for wealth creation. Having confidence and being proud of one’s heritage is an underrated virtue. African Americans did not just gain pride and confidence in who they are; it took decades of historical research, civil right and the New Negro movements to awaken their consciousness as Africans in diaspora. Have Africans at home not been psychologically stowed away by foreign realities due to gradual erosion of original identity?
Africa as a continent has failed to create wealth for herself despite the huge resources at her disposal partly because of failure to accurately define her identity in relation to her existence. Probably, the peoples of the continent will not constitute the poverty headquarters of the world if their indigenous realities form part of their modern existence.
British tabloid, Independent, in a publication in May 2023 reported that the Buckingham Palace generated a revenue of approximately £71,526,000 after receiving a record 3,285,000 tourists at the official residences between 2019 and 2020 alone. History generating wealth! The British monarchy will generate massive revenue because it’s history is told around the world and its value has not been eroded on the alter of modernism. How much do African palaces generate annually? How much do African historic sites generate or are they even well known both home and abroad?
Today, Africa dangles on the gallows of neocolonialism struggling to sustain life. What role can African history play in propping back to safety? It is simple, let it be taught to rediscover self and jolt out of the hypnosis of colonialism. This will liberate the mind and break the chains of mental slavery serving as a clog in the wheel of progress. African history must form part of her education, politics, economy, and other aspects of her existence. It is time Africans give the “We did”, “We are” and “We can” details to gain her enviable place in the world.