Texas A&M history professor Dr. George C. Wright was a special guest speaker for Black History Month at the University of North Texas at Dallas.
Texas A&M history professor Dr. George C. Wright was a special guest speaker for Black History Month at the University of North Texas at Dallas.
"Is Black History Month necessary," asked Dr. George C. Wright as he spoke to an audience at the University of North Texas at Dallas Thursday afternoon.
Wright was the special guest speaker for Black History Month. His talk focused on 'black migrations', from the forced migration on slave ships from Africa, to freed slaves migrating to look for lost family members, to African American communities forming around economic opportunities.
"You think about the death of Martin Luther King and other kinds of things," Wright said. "I have often been asked, have things improved?"
Wright reminded those in attendance that he grew up in the segregated South, where places weren't always accessible to everyone.
"I looked forward to going on Negro Day, can you believe that? I'm a black historian," Wright pointed out. "You look at where we are today, there are instances that offend all of us, but here's my punchline; progress has been made along the way."
"I feel like I needed to come here today because I needed to know more about my history," said UNT Dallas sophomore Shania Anderson.
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Wright joked that though today people call him a 'smart' teacher, he was not a good student. The former President of Prairie View A&M and Provost at UT Arlington said he got where he is today because of scholarships that were offered when he was younger to help lift up African American students.
"We've got to find a way to continuously reach back and help other folk," Wright said. "That's what we're supposed to do."
