People of Importance

I have spoken about Reparations before.  My free time is dedicated to the study of history, most recently slave history.  Learning about history and it's connection to the present empowers us to take pride in our possibilities, and work to improve our future.  There cannot be a more important time than now.  The people who were involved with the Underground Railroad took great risk to do what they knew in their hearts to be right and just.  Great risk.  

There are many historians studying and publishing great things in scholarship, now more than ever, it seems.  I would like to help do my part recognizing historians who should be known more like Rockstars, than obscure geeks.  I didn't find out, until recently, of the death of James Oliver Horton, who died this past February.  His contribution to the field was enormous, respect for him amongst his peers and his students at George Washington University show a love and admiration we should all strive to obtain.  His writing and publications are extensive, so I will leave you with his words at the end of a documentary from 2002.

"There have been times in American history when we have been able to form alliances across racial lines.  The fact is, we don't hear as much about that as we ought to, and it's important that we do.  Because it's awfully hard to imagine that we can form racial alliances in the 21st century unless we understand that there's a strong tradition we can draw upon.  And although there has always been hostilities, there have always been difficulties across racial lines, there have also always been some people who were able and willing to put their fortunes and lives on the line for other people.  That's a tradition we need to draw on. The tradition of the Underground Railroad."  James Oliver Horton in the documentary "Whispers of Angels:  A Story of the Underground Railroad"https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/memoriam-james-oliver-horton