Untold Truths

In elementary and high school, one of my favorite subjects was History. I enjoyed History classes because it was one of the subjects that didn’t involve calculations and was actually interesting. Our high school teacher also made it more interesting. He would tell the stories with extra energy and enthusiasm. Throughout those times, I was so focused on enjoying the historical stories that I never cared to think about their credibility. As I grew older and got a cell phone, I realized that it can be difficult to find the real truth behind a historical event and that is because history, over the years, has been diluted, manipulated and distorted by people to make it more interesting.

Some or most of the stories we grew up believing are not totally true, because some parts of them have been altered just to favour the person who is telling them. For example, a person tells you the history of two families, their family and another family. There’s a very high probability that they would tell that story in a way that would favour them and paint the other family as bad or weak, depending on the context. This brings me to today’s Hive Learners’ prompt, “Tales of History.” The community asks us an interesting question: What is that piece of history that you believe is totally wrong but everyone just thinks is right?

For me, one historical piece that I believe is totally wrong but everyone just thinks is right, at least for many years, is the Eurocentric’s view of Africa before colonialism. For many years, it was believed by many people that before colonialism, Africans were barbarians who didn’t know how to do anything. It was also believed that Africans did not have a system of government; that they lived as savages and finally, it was believed that they did not have their own form of literature.

For many years, many people believed the Eurocentric’s view. And it wasn’t until African writers started to tell their own side of the story that the truth was finally revealed. First off, it is true that Africans did not have a written form of language. It was the Europeans who taught them how to read and write. This part is true. But the part that is not true is that Africans did not have a form of literature. Africans had a form of literature which was oral. They did not know how to write novels or stories on paper, but they told stories through words of mouth. In the evenings, African children would gather round a big tree and listen to tales told by elderly ones; mostly the grandparents. Africans did not have a written form of literature, but their stories were passed down from generation to generation through words of mouth.

Moving on, that Africans did not have their own system of government before colonialism is also totally wrong. As a matter of fact, African countries were doing just fine. For example, before colonialism, the Yorubas had their own system of government. Power was in the hands of the Alaafin and with the help of other powerful subjects, he ruled over his people. Similarly, in the Igbo community and Hausa community, they had their own systems of government. It is true that the Europeans brought civilization to Africa: they taught them how to read and write. They actually taught them a lot of things beyond reading and writing, but before they came, Africans had their own ways of doing things. Although they were living in darkness, they weren’t savages.

In conclusion, historical stories are interesting. However, we should take note of the fact that some of these stories may have been diluted just to make it more interesting. It falls on us to find the truth about the stories from credible sources.

Thanks for reading.