History to Histories

The old adage "History is written by the victors" rings true to the ways in which we document history. In other words, the account of history we claim to know and are presented with is merely one history of many, as the mainstream history tends to drown out certain events that, for one reason or another, we're brushed under the rug. Just as we have defined identity as multidimensional, so is history, and, as Martin and Nakayama put it, "These histories necessarily overlap and influence each other," (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 128). Therefore, in order for us to truly understand our own identities as they are influenced by our history, we must embrace all the histories associated with us, expanding our worldview and allowing us to communicate more effectively.

The Holocaust is one of the most horrible and evil events that occurred in history, in which people of Jewish decent in Europe were gathered into internment camps where they were worked to death, tortured and killed in horrific ways, and we as a country participate in a culture that sympathizes with the victims, spending a great deal of time in classrooms learning about the event so that we may prevent such a thing from happening again. However at the same time we participate in a culture that places ourselves as the heros, having defeated Germany in World War II and putting an end to the persecution of Jews in Europe. While this is true to an extent, we often tend to forget about the mistreatment of Jews within our own country. And while no instance in the US was anywhere near the level of the Holocaust, it is still troubling that we, as a culture, tend to brush these incidents under the rug, taking no blame or responsibility for them. In a timeline of Jewish persecution throughout history, the United States is listed several times, once in Boston in 1922 where Harvard restricted Jews from enrolling, one in Georgia in 1915 where a Jewish man was lynched, and one in 1850 where five hundred people, led by police, destroyed a Synagogue (Jewish Persecution). Such events are rarely discussed in American history, and therefore are a perfect example of hidden histories.

Knowing about these events is important because it puts all of our historical identities into perspective. Often times Germans are stereotyped, still to this day, as anti-semitic because of the events of the Holocaust while the United States tends to forget about its own instances of anti-semitism. When we cease to look at history and start to consider histories, we better equip ourselves to approach and interact with other cultures because of an expanded worldview, allowing us to look at situations as well as social dynamics from multiple viewpoints. 

References

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

"Jewish Persecution | Timeline of Judaism | History of Anti-Semitism." Simple To Know. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sep 2013. <http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/HistoryJewishPersecution/>

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