An Interview
with the founder of WWW.RAAHistory. com.
The
web-site www.raahistory.com opens the door to almost anything one
would have an interest in knowing about the history of African Americans
or current events involving African Americans. The domain stands for Real
African American history.
Dr.
Von L. Burton (Click here), the developer of the Web-site, pointed out in an
interview that it was his desire to introduce what he refers to as
"New African American History"; that is, history, which is both
positive and not well known in the general population. He continues
"history that can make Americans feel that positive and significant
accomplishments have been made over the last half century".
The
website has links to other websites, including the "Library of
Congress", who is in the process of making available their vast
collection of archives of African American history to the public. While www.raahistory.com
can connect you to almost any African American link on the Internet, it
opens to a page "Real African American Heroes: that is devoted
to NASA and the military. "The history of African Americans has been
well documented in the fields of music, sports and other form of
entertainment" Dr. Burton explains "however those who have made
significant contributions and sacrifices in the military and NASA have not
been well documented". He is quick to point out that "This is
neither the fault of the military or the individual service person. The
military is not in the business of promoting various forms of
entertainment or the service person to promote him or herself as an
entertainer.
This
is where Real African American heroes enters the picture. It is a
part of the RAAHistory website
dedicated to all African Americans
in the military or NASA who over the years may have served as excellent
role models, but for various reasons did not get all of the recognition
that they might have deserved in
terms of African American history.
These
are the people who have by oath made the decision to put their lives at
risk, in the air, at sea, in space and on the ground all around the world
on a daily basis. "Since the Internet is available, individuals who
perform in such roles can now be seen. Consider, for example, the
individuals who would go down into the oceans and recover the parts of an
entire aircraft. There is an interest in seeing the faces of these
individuals; however we only see their head and face covered with some
type of helmet covering their face. The only person that we see are the
designated spokesperson however with the Internet we have a medium that
can offer some recognition to those other individuals and not limited to
the spokesperson".
Dr.
Burton points out that " that there are thousands of Real African
American heroes in
other career fields such as sports, medicine, education, music and
entertainment; however I chose the military and NASA because these areas
of history were not pursued and recorded by historians.".
African
Americans have flown with and led our military flight demonstration teams,
the "Blue Angels" of the Navy and 'Thunderbirds" of the Air
Force.. They have served as Astronauts with the ranks of Commander, Pilot
and Mission Specialist on several Space Shuttle missions as well as
in roles that required "walking in space".
In
the Navy, an African American is the " Commander in Chief
of North Atlantic Fleet" and
also an African American is the "Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
These
are the historical accomplishments that Dr. Burton refers to as "New
African American
History. "He uses the word "New" because it required a
considerable amount of research to locate those individuals that had
retired from active duty and the families of those individuals who have
passed on". This history is not a repeat of the same history that has
become a permanent part of history and not of the type
that one would find in school and college textbooks. But it is
history that might fall through the cracks and other wise go unnoticed if
the Internet was not available.
The
website does not have a sponsor and not funded by a grant. Dr. Burton
explains why. "It is a project that I started and enjoy. I find
history in general very interesting and research personally
rewarding."
An
interesting thing about this site is that it has a very easy name to
remember
RAAHistory.
RAAHistory.Com
RAAHistory.Com
RAAHistory.Com
|