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. John Henrik Clarke More Quotes by John Henrik Clarke More Quotes From John Henrik Clarke After the Moslem Africans lost control over Spain, they began to prey on the Africans further to the south. They destroyed the great independent states in West Africa, and subsequently set Africa up for the Western slave trade and the Arabs were in the slave trade before Islam and they are still in the slave trade. John Henrik Clarke spain islam independent Europeans not only colonized most of the world, they colonized information about the world. John Henrik Clarke information world We never see ourselves as heroes and sometimes when we do it is a hero that has made a fortune as a clown or a boxer. And there is no lasting value in either one of those. John Henrik Clarke boxers hero sometimes When I was able to go to school in my early years, my third grade teacher, Ms. Harris, convinced me that one day I would be a writer. I heard her, but I knew that I had to leave Georgia, and unlike my friend Ray Charles, I did not go around with 'Georgia on My Mind.' John Henrik Clarke teacher years school Most of the Pyramids were observatories in perfect alignment. Some Pyramids were aligned so that the sun would hit them at a certain time of the year. And yet, it could rain all year, and not a drop of rain could get inside. No one covered the hole. So that took some high intelligence to line a thing up so that the exact time of year when the sun was in the exact position, it would light up the inside of that crypt. John Henrik Clarke light rain years Some of us say, "Lord knows how much I can bear". I think you can assume that you can bear more than you have a right to bear. John Henrik Clarke assuming bears thinking 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. John Henrik Clarke community acceptance people When people laugh at your institutions and convince you that you have to adopt theirs - adopt their dress, adopt their taste in food - you are a prisoner to those people. John Henrik Clarke dresses laughing people I think many times we charge the Lord for things we can do ourselves. If only we realized how well we have been equipped. John Henrik Clarke wells lord thinking I am a nationalist, and a Pan-Africanist, first and foremost. I was well grounded in history before ever taking a history course. I did not spend much formal time in school - I had to work. John Henrik Clarke formal school firsts Now, Jews integrate but they don't destroy their institutions. They don't close the synagogue. They don't stop having special Jewish graveyards. They don't stop having special Jewish holidays. Why can't we understand that we can have things special to us and still comingle and integrate with others. John Henrik Clarke integrating holiday special My daddy wanted me to be a farmer; feel the smoothness of Alabama clay and become one of the first blacks in my town to own land. But, I was worried about my history being caked with that southern clay, and I subscribed to a different kind of teaching and learning in my bones and in my spirit. John Henrik Clarke daddy land teaching History is a compass that you locate yourself on the map of human geography, politically, culturally, financially. John Henrik Clarke maps compass geography As the eldest son of an Alabama sharecropper family, I was constantly troubled by a collage of North American southern behaviors and notions in reference to the inhumanity of people. There were questions that I did not know how to ask but could, in my young, unsophisticated way, articulate a series of answers. John Henrik Clarke southern people son 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. John Henrik Clarke views people years Man's most intelligent age may have gotten lost in history. John Henrik Clarke intelligent age men If I lead the field in any way, it is in the area of curricula development, study guides and other teaching materials. John Henrik Clarke development teaching way In a collective society, everybody's business is everybody's business. John Henrik Clarke collectives I have walked majestically with kings and queens and presidents and other heads of states. John Henrik Clarke queens president kings This kind of collective society - giving to each according to his need - existed in Africa not only before Karl Marx, but also before Europe. John Henrik Clarke europe giving needs
