According to Norment (2007), “African American Studies is the systematic study of descendants of Africans enslaved in America” (p. xxvii).
Bobo, et al. (2004) wrote that “Black Studies, as a socially engaged field of scholarly inquiry, is the progeny of centuries of research that seeks to redress long-standing misconceptions of Black inferiority, African heritage, and cultural significance” (p. 1).
It is very important that we (1) know and familiarize ourselves with and (2) fill in the historical record with our truths as descendants of Africans who became slaves through Western colonization. Mainstream media and educational institutions (the ones that do not support social justice perspectives) continue to view and perpetuate beliefs and ideologies that perpetuate a White, male hegemonic perspective with only one universal “Truth.”