In a recent Newsweek opinion column, Kevin Powell draws on personal experience and cultural history to argue that America must tell the full truth about slavery if it hopes to move forward as a democracy.
Powell begins with Langston Hughes’ 1926 poem “I, Too”, which declared Black belonging in America despite exclusion and violence. Like Hughes, Powell grew up in a world where Black history was nearly erased. In school, slavery was reduced to mere paragraphs and called only “the peculiar institution.” It was not until college—through Africana Studies at Rutgers and cultural institutions like the Schomburg Center in Harlem and the Smithsonian—that Powell discovered a fuller picture of Black history, one that “saved my life” and inspired him to become a writer.
He highlights the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which does not begin with slavery but with ancient Africa, showing who Black people were before being forced into bondage. For Powell, this framing underscores the resilience of a “miracle people” who, despite centuries of oppression, have contributed to every facet of American life—from military service and freedom struggles to culture, music, food, language, dance, and invention.
Powell stresses that slavery inflicted traumas still felt today, shaping how Black people see themselves and are seen by society. Yet he also points to Black patriotism and loyalty, even amid ongoing injustice. To minimize or erase slavery, he argues, is also to minimize the richness of Black culture itself.
His conclusion is clear: “America will never move forward, nor heal, as a society of diverse people with diverse stories, if any of its people are being silenced, ignored, purely because some with power are hateful of whole truths.”
Powell’s reflections arrive as debates intensify over how slavery and race are presented in schools and museums, and whether institutions like the Smithsonian should expand or restrict those narratives. His essay insists that inclusive history is not shameful—it is essential to democracy.
Read Kevin Powell’s full opinion piece at Newsweek
Featured image: National Museum of African American History and Culture (via media kit).
