{"id":139275,"date":"2021-10-09T08:24:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-09T12:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=139275"},"modified":"2021-10-09T08:24:56","modified_gmt":"2021-10-09T12:24:56","slug":"they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/","title":{"rendered":"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>

by Makeda Mikael<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Growing up in Antigua Girl’s High School and later Antigua Grammar School for science & sixth form) I was taught for the most part by white English teachers and some West Indian whites who were referred to as Mistresses and a few old white men at Grammar School with lots more black male teachers – they were called Masters.<\/p>\n

We learned English Literature & English History, and our interest in science was to balance it by love of the Romantics and the poets of England.\u00a0 Beginning with the rawness of Chaucer to the melancholy of Wordsworh, and the last Duchess of Browning, our syllabus was that almost of every white English High School, and history meant British History, for the West Indies as the islands were called then, was part of the jumbled British colonial grouping which produced our ‘Paddy fields and Plantations’ mentality, devoid of our own history.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

How could the journey of death from Africa, our homeland be explained in a way which makes it palatable to civil society; or for that matter the darkness of life in the fields and on the blood drenched plantations; and the loss of everything that made us African. How could we slide into acceptance of our new freedom without recompense, if we knew the real story, and not just his story.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Would we really speak the language of the slaver nation with such pride, would we so arrogantly wear their clothes, stupidly adding on to our naturally short hair to look like them, become selfish consumers, just like them, corrupt ourselves to be rich, just like them.<\/p>\n

A people without history adopts the history created for them by the vacuum of their own history, and this is visible in the ability of Caribbean people who have travelled to become instantly very British, or American, Canadian, or even continental African.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

This ability is not a freak situation it represents need of history, need to fill that vacuum of four hundred years. The dark days of slavery have been put to sleep, thank God for the plantation records of the slavers, so meticulously executed with pride of ownership, those born, their days and nights enslaved, their dreadful punishments and creatively evil methods of murder by their owners over four hundred years.<\/p>\n

Facing one’s history from records allows the imagination to free the many unexplained horrible secrets which continue to mutate in our lives of post slavery traumatic stress. So much that has been buried continue to haunt us if only for a moment we stopped long enough to think and ask ourselves about our hatred of our own and why we do not love ourselves.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Surviving on the plantation required that we live ‘Each man for himself’ without the rest of the prayer ‘God for us all!’<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Makeda Mikael Growing up in Antigua Girl’s High School and later Antigua Grammar School for science & sixth form) I was taught for the most part by white English teachers and some West Indian whites who were referred to as Mistresses and a few old white men at Grammar School with lots more black […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":129075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nThey Dared Not Teach Us Our History - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Makeda Mikael Growing up in Antigua Girl’s High School and later Antigua Grammar School for science & sixth form) I was taught for the most part by white English teachers and some West Indian whites who were referred to as Mistresses and a few old white men at Grammar School with lots more black […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"580\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"386\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/\"},\"wordCount\":478,\"commentCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:580\/h:386\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/\",\"name\":\"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History - Antigua News Room\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:580\/h:386\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:580\/h:386\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:580\/h:386\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg\",\"width\":580,\"height\":386,\"caption\":\"Makeda-Mikael\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"name\":\"Antigua News Room\",\"description\":\"News As It Happens\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Antigua Newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"width\":1260,\"height\":1260,\"caption\":\"Antigua Newsroom\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History - Antigua News Room","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History","og_description":"by Makeda Mikael Growing up in Antigua Girl’s High School and later Antigua Grammar School for science & sixth form) I was taught for the most part by white English teachers and some West Indian whites who were referred to as Mistresses and a few old white men at Grammar School with lots more black […]","og_url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/","og_site_name":"Antigua News Room","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","article_published_time":"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":580,"height":386,"url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_site":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5"},"headline":"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History","datePublished":"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/"},"wordCount":478,"commentCount":5,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:580\/h:386\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/","name":"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History - Antigua News Room","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:580\/h:386\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-09T12:24:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:580\/h:386\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:580\/h:386\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Makeda-Mikael.jpeg","width":580,"height":386,"caption":"Makeda-Mikael"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/they-dared-not-teach-us-our-history\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"They Dared Not Teach Us Our History"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","name":"Antigua News Room","description":"News As It Happens","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization","name":"Antigua Newsroom","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","width":1260,"height":1260,"caption":"Antigua Newsroom"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5","name":"Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/129075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}