"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary." - Dr. Carter G. Woodson, “The Miseducation of the Negroe”

As the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, they stepped on foreign soil straight into a system that would redefine who they were and what they were. Forever gone were their family names, traditions and culture; forever gone was the pride instilled in each of them. An identity that was once connected by bloodlines was now almost untraceable. 

From this point on, they would become women and men without purpose and without the hope of being anything more than property. The members of this caste system were now also the victims of identity theft. 

From the slave trade, they found themselves truly lost in a foreign land, living among others who spoke different languages and originated from different tribes. Traveling through the middle passage, little by little, their entire identities were stripped away. Little by little the lives they once knew were faded memories, tossed overboard and lost at sea forever.   

Those who were forced into slavery would become “strange fruit” (as described in the Billie Holiday song) and a part of a social system, which would force adaptation. Their very identities became defined through the perception of slave owners. But through it all – stolen from the shores of Africa and stripped of their native land – this courageous group of Africans would reshape and redefine life in America.

Read the rest at http://www.epicenter.org/article/robinson-como-why-we-celebrate-black-history-month/