In the closing years of the nineteenth century, African-American historians began to look at their people's history from their vantage point and their point of view.

The acceptance of the facts of African-American history and the African-American historian as a legitimate part of the academic community did not come easily. Slavery ended and left its false images of black people intact.

In the African matrilineal society, the lineage of the bloodline comes down through the female side. The Arabs who invaded East Africa and other parts of Africa reversed it to the patrilineal where everything comes down through the male side and the woman has no basic rights except that which the male is willing to grant her.

This kind of collective society - giving to each according to his need - existed in Africa not only before Karl Marx, but also before Europe.

If we don't unite, chances are we will go back into slavery.

History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are but, more importantly, what they must be.

We will have taken one giant step forward when we face this reality: Powerful people never teach powerless people how to take their power away from them.