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Kaitlynn Falk

Mrs. Maciulewicz

ENG 1101

6 November 2020

Why is Black History So Important?

Within today, there are a lot of adjustments being made, such as the viewpoint of

systemic racism for Gen Z, and the stance on the president from a lot of the same people.

Because of the developments of these viewpoints, there is a demand for change within the

teaching aspect of our lives, because most of our morals and ideologies are manufactured within

these years. The history we have been taught can be whitewashed and completely wrong,

regardless of popular beliefs. Within his speech, The Real Story Of Rosa Parks-- And Why We

Need To Confront Myths About Black History, David Ikard juxtaposes his history as a black

man to the history that students were taught while in primary schooling. Ikard successfully states

that black history has been changed because of what we were taught through anecdotes that

juxtapose time periods, ethos, logos, and pathos to question the human condition and how our

species has conducted ourselves when faced with adversity.

Within his speech, Ikard juxtaposes the current reality with the past multiple times. To do

this, Ikard uses anecdotes and compares it to older times, such as the Rosa Parks story that

everyone was taught in elementary school. Ikard uses an example from when he was in graduate

school and was chosen to proofread a chapter from one of his professor’s books. Within this

chapter, the professor stated that his domestic maid had comforted him and summed up the

chapter with a statement that people can come together through racial lines and find love and

affection in common between the two. After this statement was corrected, Ikard juxtaposes the
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professor's assumption of the story with the changed story of Rosa Parks. “And see, this is what

they did to Rosa Parks. Because it's a lot easier to digest an old grandmother with tired feet who

doesn't stand up because she wants to fight for equality, but because her feet and her back are

tired, and she's worked all day. See, old grandmothers are not scary. But young, radical black

women who don't take any stuff from anybody are very scary, who stand up to power and are

willing to die for that -- those are not the kind of people that make us comfortable” (16:07-

16:50). This statement in full states that not only was Rosa Parks a young woman and was

frightening because she was young, but that she had to write her autobiography to correct the

statements that would be made about her efforts towards the civil rights movement. The remark

is juxtaposed to not only the professor’s book, but to the current reality of the world. The account

is currently talking about the same history that is being taught in elementary schools, and hasn’t

been changed regardless of the social changes during 2020, even with the Black Lives Matter

movement, and this speech.

To establish credibility for himself, David Ikard provides the fact that he is not only

African-American, but he is also a cultural studies professor. To further his expertise here, he

corrects the statements that were taught to his son, "Rosa Parks was not tired. She was not old.

And she certainly didn't have tired feet… Rosa Parks was only 42 years old, she had only

worked six hours that day, and she was a seamstress and her feet were just fine” (01:45-02:10).

During this learning experience for his son, Ikard instructs his son to read Mrs. Parks’s

autobiography. Because of the anecdote that was placed in the very beginning of his speech, the

audience begins to trust Ikard because has experienced this with his son, and because of the fact

that Ikard is a cultural studies professor, meaning that he is aware of this happening in the real

world.
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Ikard’s speech also uses logos to state that there have been many issues with the

education system, as well as the way the human species has reacted when there has been a

confrontation. When his son came home bearing false information about Rosa Parks and her

famous stunt with segregation on the busses, Ikard initially had demanded of himself to go talk

to this teacher because of his son being taught his own history incorrectly; “I understand, as an

African-American man, that whenever you talk to whites about racism or anything that's racially

sensitive, there's usually going to be a challenge. This is what white sociologist Robin DiAngelo

calls "white fragility." She argues that, in fact, because whites have so little experience being

challenged about their white privilege that whenever even the most minute challenge is brought

before them, they usually cry, get angry or run” (05:06-05:51). By quoting DiAngelo’s work,

Ikard states that it’s not only African Americans noticing that white people have had a major

diversion to being wrong and will not accept their wrongs unless they can fight it, or run away

from the problem at hand.

Ikard uses pathos to lighten the subject of his history being erased by making jokes about

how Rosa Parks would react to things. After his son was given Parks’s autobiography, he

remarked that Parks’s husband would organize events that would be hosted at their house, in

which Parks would forget basic hospitality actions, stated here: “one time Rosa Parks remarked

that there were so many guns on the table, because they were prepared for somebody to come

busting into the door that they were prepared for whatever was going to go down, that Rosa

Parks said, "There were so many guns on the table that I forgot to even offer them coffee or

food”" (03:47-04:30). This instills the idea within the audience that although this is a seriously

dire topic, there is some room for jokes pertaining to the history. This statement alone shocked

the audience because of the fact that this was never mentioned within their history classes that
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the Parks would invite people into their home to rally and encourage people to continue standing

up for equality, and equal rights for not only African-Americans, but for women as well.

Ikard used his speech to convey through anecdotes, juxtaposition, ethos, logos, and

pathos, that there have been parts of the human condition that needed to be questioned. These

aspects of life have been brought up throughout history and haven’t been addressed or respected

enough to see actual change, however, within Ikard’s speech, he demands that there be change

for his kids, and the future generations to come to keep from ignorance. Within his speech, Ikard

suggests to his audience to read more about the history that we have been taught incorrectly, and

to educate ourselves for our own sake, as well as the future generations that will become more

and more ignorant without the help of the current generations pushing for more and more

change.
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Works Cited

Ikard, David. “The Real Story Of Rosa Parks-- And Why We Need To Confront Myths About

Black History.” TED, March 2018,

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_ikard_the_real_story_of_rosa_parks_and_why_we_nee

d_to_confront_myths_about_black_history