During the Spring 2021 semester, I completed my third honors experience through the University of Cincinnati’s University Honors Program: Uncomfortable Truths: From Africa to #GeorgeFloyd in “American History.” The goal of this class was to inform students on the history of African Americans from the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade all the way through the murder of George Floyd in the spring of 2020—a deliberate “do-over” of the traditional narrative that is taught in most elementary, middle, and high schools. In my own experience, the history education that I received before coming to UC completely failed to illustrate the history of African Americans. The story of African Americans was reduced to two isolated events: slavery and the Civil Rights Movement of the late 20th century. However, after taking ‘Uncomfortable Truths,’ I have a better understanding of historical treatment of African Americans, the systemic racism that is clearly present in our society today, and stronger recognition of my own privilege.

 

This honors seminar consisted of two components. The first portion of the class took the form of traditional lectures, in which Dr. Holly McGee (now one of my favorite professors) walked students through American history focusing on uncomfortable topics like mob violence, Jim Crow laws, and redlining while facilitating valuable conversation between classmates. Later in the semester, the seminar transitioned to a service-learning component, in which the class worked together on a volunteer project with the Union Foundation as student archivists to revitalize the history of the United American and Union Baptist cemeteries in Cincinnati, Ohio. Specifically, my group chose to construct a detailed digital map of the cemetery with images and biographical information of each individual buried there.

 

I couldn’t be more pleased that I chose to take the HIST 3197 seminar. From an academic perspective, the class helped reinforce my time management skills and allowed me to exercise my literature reading and comprehension muscles that go mostly unused in my Chemical Engineering curriculum. Because I attended classes this semester completely remotely, I leaned into the community of other students taking this seminar for valuable discussion and strong friendships based on shared learning and communication during such a difficult part of our collegiate careers. One of the largest takeaways from this course will be recognizing my own privilege as a white american. Moving forward, I hope to help others recognize their privileges, too—I will have tough conversations with my friends and family and share my learning about the reality of the African American experience in today’s society.

 

As an example of my experience, below is an image of an unmarked gravestone from the United American Cemetery in Cincinnati, OH. It was taken as part of the service-learning component of HIST 3197. The hundreds of unmarked gravestones like this one are examples of how historically African American cemeteries in every city have been underfunded and need revitalization.

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