I was born in 1960, so the world I grew up in was affected by the Civil Rights struggle. That skews my perception of the century, in a way.
However, I was always bookish and I read many books written before I was born. In Jr High School I kept taking out a particular book from the school library. It was about dinosaurs, written by Roy Chapman Andrews, and published in 1928. I think I was the only person who had read it since the 1930s (checkout dates were on the card in the back in those days). I couldn’t believe it. I thought is was a fascinating book. Years later I found out that Roy Chapman Andrews wasn’t just some guy. He was a big deal. But that has nothing to do with blacks showing up in history.
However, as I grew up, I read a lot of other stuff just because it was interesting. Books about Toussaint L’Ouverture and the revolution in Haiti, Old West heroes (inclusing Bass Reeves, Nat Love, Jeff Beckwourth), I had a kids book about Blues musicians (they lived hard lives and the kid’s book didn’t cover all that much, but it told me enough). Also jazz musicians, including James Reese Europe and his role in WWI. Also Benjamin Banneker, George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and others.
These were not just a bunch of books rushed into publication because Martin Luther King had a dream. Some of these books were published before I was born and purchased for a number of libraries (public and school libraries) in my MA suburb. I don’t think it was about being “woke”. It was about acquiring books worth reading.
I never really thought much about it. I liked reading about famous people. These were famous people. I figured everyone should know about them.
But, in my opinion, perhaps starting in the 1970s, it became actually LESS common to talk about them. They became forgotten. And then the activists started complaining about how our racist country had scrubbed blacks from US history. Pretty convenient, right? Well, I know who was doing the scrubbing.
There’s a podcast called Great Books where the host interviews experts on the topic, often university professors. A little while ago they reviewed Washington’s “Up From Slavery” which was most fascinating.