I Am Black History Today: Honoring the DNA of My Ancestors

After reading Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon, something inside me shifted. I realized the most important Black History I can celebrate is me.

I Am Black History because I carry the DNA of survivors — men, women, and children who walked 200 miles barefoot in chains, survived the horrors of the barracoon, and endured the Middle Passage where up to 15% never made it.

My DNA was packed like cargo into the belly of ships. It arrived on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, only to face the auction block and 250 years of American slavery.

Why I Am Black History My DNA survived:

• Tribal wars and betrayal by other Africans for trinkets and rum

• Filthy, airless barracoons

• Starvation, disease, and the whip

• Rape used to breed more laborers

• Families torn apart on the auction block

• Fields, chains, and forced silence
  

Recently, while touring Kingsley Plantation in Florida, a guide claimed the owners were “good to their slaves.” I asked: “What is good about being owned by another human being and forced to labor six days a week without pay?”

There was no answer, because there is none.

Yet my DNA survived it all. It went to war for this country’s economy and continues to fight injustice, even within today’s for-profit prison system.

Black History Every Day I am a woman designed by the Creator, dressed in DNA assigned by the same power that said, “Let there be light.”

And you expect me not to shine?

No.

I will shine. I will speak. I will remember. I will honor the blood that walked before me.

Because I Am Black History, not only in February, but every single day.

Black History is not only something to celebrate once a year. It is who I am. It is my breath, my bones, my unbreakable spirit.

Ready to reflect on your own ancestry and resilience? Share your story in the comments below. If this message resonates with you, I invite you to explore the Go Thru It movement. Whether you're dealing with inherited trauma, systemic injustice, identity reclamation, or the weight of untold ancestral stories, there is a path through it. And on the other side of that path? Resilience. Peace. Healing. Freedom.

Discover more resources for your healing journey:

• Get my book on strength and reclaiming your name "When Zora Spoke I Remembered My Name"

• Join the Go Thru It community and receive stories of resilience and inspiration.

• Book a speaking engagement or workshop for your organization