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The Mission to Safeguard Black History in the US | Julieanna L. Richardson | TED

Black history in the US is rich, profound — and at risk of being lost forever, if not for the monumental efforts of Julieanna L. Richardson. As the founder of The HistoryMakers — the largest national archive of African American video-oral history — Richardson shares some of the unknown and incredible legacies of Black America,…

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Black history in the US is rich, profound — and at risk of being lost forever, if not for the monumental efforts of Julieanna L. Richardson. As the founder of The HistoryMakers — the largest national archive of African American video-oral history — Richardson shares some of the unknown and incredible legacies of Black America, highlighting the importance of documenting and preserving the past for future generations.

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51 Comments

  1. awilkynson

    July 20, 2022 at 3:18 pm

    This is a sad sad comment on the American government, yet again, the Government should be funding museums like Germany regarding the Holocaust, it’s pathetic! You keep talking! You’re right and I can’t believe they’re trying to erase actual history! ☮❤🇨🇦🙋‍♀️

  2. Vicky Targaryen

    July 20, 2022 at 3:21 pm

    ❤️ I listened and I heard you.

  3. Zahra Laifa

    July 20, 2022 at 3:23 pm

    Great 🧡

  4. Joan Sommerfield

    July 20, 2022 at 3:24 pm

    Please don’t forget about Native American History, the most forgotten of all

    • vector DW

      July 20, 2022 at 4:25 pm

      I think that this isn’t the place. Her talking about preserving Black American history,about it being white washed,and erased is not a call for “what bout us-ism”… we can have a conversation about black history solely without pivoting to another group. If you feel so deeply about that history you have the ability to do the work. Let’s not try to get someone else to pivot their focus for your want.

    • Doug Ewald

      July 20, 2022 at 5:19 pm

      Absolutely!

    • capac2

      July 20, 2022 at 5:30 pm

      @vector DW yup, exactly. Lets take the time to listen and learn and value a people for their own contributions and distinguished history before jumping to another topic however important it is. Comment is tone deaf. All people are important, but when it comes to the USA in particular, the African diaspora is a crucial topic to understanding USA history which is extremely ignored. And yes, without a doubt, the indigenous/First Nations peoples of North America too but this video is not about that. Lets celebrate this Woman’s initiative and discourse.

  5. Henry Cardona

    July 20, 2022 at 3:30 pm

    Well said. She is an inspiring speaker.

  6. Xeonophon

    July 20, 2022 at 3:38 pm

    the history of farming equipment in the USA

  7. listen2meokidoki

    July 20, 2022 at 3:41 pm

    If you wanna know everything about Black USA history just watch Amos and Andy.
    Most people can only understand history in terms of stereotypes any hows.
    So it’s all theys needs.

  8. R Hawkins

    July 20, 2022 at 3:47 pm

    Grateful to hear truth being spoken and validated for the masses!

  9. maxpolaris99

    July 20, 2022 at 3:52 pm

    CRT is not Black History, it’s a destructive, divisive Cultural Marxist invention. Black Lives Matter is demonstrably a grievance mongering financial fraud! Demonstrable to anyone with any common sense at all.

  10. Jean Wallace

    July 20, 2022 at 4:01 pm

    Black put before any statement gives worrying racist propaganda vibes:
    Please stop listing human status or values system via colour. Blessings all🌹

  11. Violet_SKRS

    July 20, 2022 at 4:06 pm

    i loved reading about the all black WW1 combat unit: the Harlem Hellfighters. or reading about the Tuskegee Airmen of WW2, the Red Tails.

    the reclamation of our history is too important. until today during the video, i had never heard of the Montford Point Marines who fought throughout the pacific campaign. or The Golden 13 the first commissioned black officers in the U.S. Navy, pivotal moment which jumpstarted further integration to the most tradition bound, segregated branch of our military.

    schools need to teach all of our history, not just what a few deem as worthy. I never even learned about native american (navajo in this case) involvement in WW2 until the move Windtalkers, about how they used their language to encrypt U.S. messages during the war. was never even touched on (i graduated HS In 2015 for frame of reference). same goes for the red tails or harlem hellfighters, i learned about them kn my own. the red tails movie was my first introduction to them, and the harlem hellfighters book by max brooks was first introduction to them (and later in the Battlefield 1 game including them in the first campaign mission).

    so much room to tell stories but their massive contribution to american history is still hidden and untalked about in most circles.

  12. whateveryousay

    July 20, 2022 at 4:12 pm

    Thank you for helping our history shine. And not be hidden under the guise of “anti critical race theory”. Our history is filled with race based crimes and attitudes. It’s important to revisit it from time to time, so that we are no doomed to repeat it.

  13. Peter Weller

    July 20, 2022 at 4:13 pm

    You are an American and as such are part of our history.
    There are many dark days, oh yes, my friend. Many much too many.
    There is solace in that if we manage not to wipe out all human history things will get better.
    I want to believe it will.
    I served in the Navy with good and bad people of every stripe.

  14. Wealthbuilderz TV

    July 20, 2022 at 4:23 pm

    As much as they try to take our history it will never be taken as long as WE keep it alive.

  15. Leonard Dunbar

    July 20, 2022 at 4:51 pm

    This is amazing! Thank you❤️ for all your work and preserving my history!

    • whatsapp me_+①③⑥⓪④③⑥⑤⑨⑧⑤

      July 20, 2022 at 5:06 pm

      T̲h̲a̲n̲k̲s̲~~~~

    • coldest beer

      July 21, 2022 at 4:55 am

      Detroit & gang culture

  16. anferny18011981

    July 20, 2022 at 4:57 pm

    ok..

  17. la Sn3ak3r

    July 20, 2022 at 5:33 pm

    We Democrats WILL abolissh police nationwide and ban constitutional carry nationwide once we SWEEP the midterms!! Vote dem 2022 to make it happen!! 💙

  18. Stig Helmer

    July 20, 2022 at 5:45 pm

    Black Americans are on average 15% white.

  19. Brooke Woody

    July 20, 2022 at 6:01 pm

    My god mother, ValJeanne T. Grigsby was a WAC alongside the Tuskegee Airmen. She was a wonderful person and I wish I could have her life documented here as well!!

    • Douglas Marshall

      July 20, 2022 at 11:23 pm

      I do too I’d be great

  20. bob ainsworth

    July 20, 2022 at 7:24 pm

    Will places like Fla. Stop you from researching you history? After all soon they will say you can’t even say you’re black.
    There are people in this country trying to rewrite history let alone let you speak or study it.

  21. patrick ortiz

    July 20, 2022 at 7:35 pm

    This is a stupid narrative because i picked up a book i learned about my peoples history and if i dont see them on tv all the time i dont feel left out. What happened to being an adult?

  22. patrick ortiz

    July 20, 2022 at 7:36 pm

    Black history is american history is native american history stop chopping us up into fragile groups

  23. Bruce Barton

    July 20, 2022 at 8:20 pm

    LOL! SAVE HISTORY! ESPECIALLY BAD HISTORY!
    LET’S NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES, AGAIN!

  24. Chandrashekhar Kumar

    July 20, 2022 at 11:45 pm

    🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍

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    July 21, 2022 at 1:31 am

    Learn how communicated that’s gold medal in the bus stop ✋🦋 ok86 naP 😰 Salute 🌹🐱🦋🐦 null hypothesis that you can do anything because is ❤ for you keep what you doing people love 💘 and one comment flash null hypothesis that you can do anything because is ❤ for you keep what you doing people love 💘 and one comment flash null hypothesis that you can do anything because is ❤ for you keep the words of black history.

  26. S4

    July 21, 2022 at 3:12 am

    History is written by the victims.

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    July 21, 2022 at 3:20 am

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    July 21, 2022 at 7:38 am

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  30. Digital Dirk

    July 21, 2022 at 8:53 am

    lmao that like/dislike ratio
    If you can’t see it, the video currently has 386 likes and 1.2k dislikes.

  31. Mirko Gizela Pericic

    July 21, 2022 at 9:42 am

    Salvation
    : 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
    that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
    life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
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    18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe
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  32. PLF

    July 21, 2022 at 9:43 am

    How about just teaching American history properly – the more of a gap people put between America and Black America, the division between them will stay.

  33. sayiddah bey

    July 21, 2022 at 12:03 pm

    This story moved me to tears.

  34. Sarah Modica

    July 21, 2022 at 3:30 pm

    👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

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  36. Alwyn Nito

    July 21, 2022 at 10:25 pm

    + Aboriginals, past South American cultures and diseases brought by Spain, nazis, Chinese organ farming, elitism and old cultures brutalizing themselves or each other. Atlantis? Amazonians? Cannibalization of foreigners (coloured or not) in old cowboy days, neglect/abuse of inuits, “Manifest Destiny” (like KKK), violence in Africa and India, terrorists, etc, racism and sexism is so duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuumb
    Edit: I added more recent stuff
    Putin must be evil or missed all his history classes and not raised in a loving environment

  37. Andy Cordy

    July 22, 2022 at 5:37 pm

    Aside from the massively emotive content of this talk I thank you for the simple observation that without the struggle for civil rights in the Black community, there would be no feminism and no gay liberation.

  38. Ryuna Lunaris

    July 22, 2022 at 6:44 pm

    Stop living in the past and aim for success. It’s just as easy. Black lives don’t matter more than any other life and as much as you like to call out and repeat everything wrong done in history, it’s a neverending story, if you choose to live in the past. History is essential, but there will always be people who make the clear mistake of believing there is one good path to choose and follow. In every case, it IS the wrong path too. It always has been subjective to every individual and it will stay this way… So why not stop this nonsense of racial conflict and believe in being human for once, instead of white or black monsters, neglecting humanity at all, by ignoring all virtues and benefits in being a collective of like-minded individuals without the trivial narrowminded disputes over skin color, heritage, religion… We tend to put labels on everything and everyone. It helps to sort things in our minds but it’s also a way of excluding those labeled groups from each other. Being inclusive over an infinite spectrum of things is one of our greatest traits as “intelligent” lifeforms… why should we exclude anything, if it could be beneficial for us to include it in our life and thoughts… we are one species and that’s everything that matters… It could be the other way around, white ppl being enslaved by black ppl… or Chinese, cultists of crab people, or Trump follower zombies… we shouldn’t care! Not that we should forget, don’t get me wrong here… But this is a loophole don’t you see it?! We should spare our energy and ingenuity minds for more uplifting projects than praising or condemning what’s already happened. Future generations will thank you for stopping this madness we created for ourselves…

  39. Rebecca Evans

    July 24, 2022 at 3:00 am

    That’s so badass

  40. Twuan Dixon

    July 25, 2022 at 11:24 am

    I love black history until you apply the woke idiocy.

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