Maybe We Do Need a White History Month After All

Level ^ | February 1, 2023 | William Spivey

[rightwingintelligentsia]

Every February, when Black History Month comes around, like clockwork, a small percentage of people (you know which ones) take umbrage that Black people get a month to celebrate their history, and there is no White History Month to counterbalance it. I used to argue that white history is taught year-round and thus there is no need to dedicate a month to focus on it. But recently, my views have shifted.

I've come to a realization: Perhaps we do need a white history month—if not two or three. Truth is, a lot of white history has been left out of the books, and Americans of every color need to be aware. Stay with me, here.

Much of the white history we've been taught via public education is sugar-coated or omitted altogether. Let's start at this country's nascent days. George Washington, America's first president, was rumored to have had wooden teeth. That is merely a myth. The truth is, some of the false teeth that comprised his dentures were taken from enslaved people—likely his own. Washington operated like every other enslaver of the time, authorizing beatings to maintain order and tearing apart families long before Donald Trump did the same.

Washington's will stipulated if he died before his wife, Martha, the enslaved people he owned (as opposed to those she held) be freed after her death. Martha ended up freeing his slaves once she realized they had a great incentive to speed up her demise. She released them not from the goodness of her heart but due to fear for her life.

We know Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, most famously Sally Hemings, with whom he had a decades-long relationship as she bore his children.

[knarf]

You miss my point . . . let us venture back to the days of yesteryear when men gathered in the Green Dragon Inn; ............................................................................................................................................................................................ History

The property had been inherited by Mehitable (Minot) Cooper from her uncle, William Stoughton, in 1701; Stoughton himself had acquired the property some time before June 1676.

[2] Valued at 650 pounds in 1705,[2] the Green Dragon Tavern was purchased from her son, William Cooper, by physician and pamphleteer William Douglas in 1743.

[4] Douglas lived in the tavern, calling it his "mansion house".[4] After his death in 1752, the tavern passed to his sister, who sold it to the St. Andrews Lodge of Freemasons in 1766.

[3] The Masons used the first floor for their meeting rooms led by Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Joseph Warren (killed at Bunker Hill), followed by Grand Master John Hancock.

The basement tavern was used by several secret groups and became known by historians as the "Headquarters of the Revolution".

The Sons of Liberty led by Samuel Adams, Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Boston Caucus each met there. Though membership in the Sons of Liberty was secret, it is widely believed to have included Samuel Adams, Dr. Joseph Warren, Paul Revere, John Hancock, James Otis, and Benjamin Edes (owner of the influential Boston Gazette).

The Boston Tea Party was planned there and Paul Revere (a Mason) was sent from there to Lexington on his famous ride.

In January 1788, a meeting of the mechanics and artisans of Boston passed a series of resolutions urging the importance of adopting the Federal Constitution pending at the time before a convention of delegates from around Massachusetts.

The building was demolished in 1832.

[5] A warehouse was subsequently built in its place.[2] On August 19, 1892, a commemorative plaque was placed:[5]