Are African-Americans Freed From Their Past? A Reflection By Lindsey Bogott

As I have been reading Beloved through the new historical lens, I keep on thinking about a quote Maya Angelou once said: “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” I find this quote to accurately represents not only how the Beloved characters feel about their lives, but for the real African-Americans who straddled their lives between prejudicism and freedom.

Like Sethe and Paul D, many African-Americans had to cope with the scarring memories of life in slavery, and I find it deeply courageous of those reflect on their past, because it brings up painful memories. However like how Maya Angelou said in her quote, once a person looks back on the painful memories, they can eventually free themselves from their haunting past.

Yet when it comes to painful past historical events such as slavery, it can be a difficult subject to talk about and understand, especially if you are one that has never dealt with prejudice firsthand. People need to be educated on slavery in order to make sure it never happens again and realize the impacts that slavery has left on our society. For example there is still discrimination in our modern day society. Blacks are often subjected to poorer living conditions and there are still many hate crime with the way people are being treated based on their race, such as the recent Ferguson incident. This is why one can argue that even though slavery lasted between 1619-1863, prejudice that came forth in those times is still continues today.

For this reason, I believe that is why Toni Morrison wrote Beloved. As a child on the Civil Rights Era, she found parallels between slavery and the fight for civil rights. She wanted to bring to attention how African-Americans struggle with living in America, and how they were never completely free from 1863-1965, from their formative past, and if she wrote this book today, she may have made the argument that African-Americans are still not completely free from their past.

While I cannot relate to this 100%, I have had my past shape how others have viewed me. For instance I struggled a lot in school before coming to Summit, failing the majority of my math and science classes. My middle school friends would make fun of me for not being as smart as them, causing my self esteem to fall. Even today when I can’t pass the occasional math content assessment, the haunting memories of struggling in math catch up to me, making me feel as if I can never push through the struggle.

I understand this example isn’t nearly as relatable to how minorities feel about pushing forward for equality, but I feel that everyone has something from their past that haunts them. With this realization, I look forward to reading if the Beloved characters can finally move on from their past and channel Maya Angelou’s quote on moving forward from the unforgettable past.