Why have marginalized people’s achievements been overshadowed in history?
- The Youth Activist Club
- Apr 18, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 14, 2020
By Chikamso Chijioke
It seems as though when we reflect upon the history, it is the people that have always been on top who are hailed fondly. When we think of famous inventors or historical figures, they are often white, cisgender, heterosexual, and/or male. This is not to say that the praise is undeserving, as white men have contributed greatly to our modern society. That can be shown by things like the light bulb, the telephone, and the automobile (invented by Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Nicolas Joseph Cugnot respectively). However, they are not the only contributors. Achievements of people of color, women, and the LGBT community have always been overshadowed in history. The reasoning appears to be clear-cut racism, sexism, and queerphobia. How did they manifest themselves and hinder marginalized people's success and recognition in history?
Since and even before the emancipation of enslaved black people, there were laws to prevent them from progressing. The patent system is one, in particular, pertaining to innovation. In the U.S, when the patent system was created in 1790 with the Patent Act, enslaved people were not legally considered U.S citizens, and therefore, they did not get constitutional rights, including the right to own property. Another barrier to patenting for African Americans was the Patent Oath, which required patent applicants to list their country of origin. The problem was that the 1857 Dred Scott decision stated that black people could not be U.S citizens, and freed slaves did not have a country of origin. For this reason, many black Americans were denied patents. It was also why black inventors and potential patent holders’ ideas were taken advantage of or just plain stolen. When an enslaved person had an idea or invention, it legally belonged to their owner. Slave owners used those inventions, made money and fame, and took all the credit. Additionally, if a free black person did obtain a patent, they sometimes employed a white person to help them get around legal issues (putting land in their name, etc) so the credit of the invention or idea might have gone to the white person. Even when looking past legal issues of patents, black people did not have the same access to education to stimulate innovative ideas. Segregated schools for African American students were notoriously underfunded and thus, underperforming. Furthermore, it is no surprise that black businesses were not as supported as that of other races in history. Many legal and societal restrictions-- enforced by Jim Crow laws-- were quite often barriers to success for black Americans. Other people of color faced similar obstacles, causing their accomplishments to either be hindered or hidden from historical view.
Women have been considered second-class citizens for a very long time, all over the world. Women’s property and financial rights have been constricted in western societies since Ancient Greece. Their finances were tied to husbands until the 1840s in the U.S. This dependence was very much a deterring factor to create businesses or advance economically. It was also why many women did not apply for patents, even though the Patent Act extended to them-- for white women at least. Another reason why women are less represented in the scientific community in history is that for so long, fewer women worked in STEM fields due to societal expectations. They were pushed into other fields or told to not even have careers time and time again. Various societal and legal barriers made many women hesitant to attempt to be innovators. On top of all those other factors, a plethora of women had their ideas stolen, and credit given to partners or husbands. Examples include Hedy Lamarr (creator of Radio Guidance system and wireless communication), Lise Meitner (a nuclear physicist), Rosalind Franklin (who discovered the double helix), and Alice Ball (who discovered a cure for leprosy).
While it was easier for people of the LGBT community to advance in science and innovate because they could hide their sexualities, the moment one’s sexual identity was discovered, they were ostracized, persecuted, and oftentimes jailed. Once that occurred, they were stripped of any respect, and their sexuality was kept separate from their historical identities. That is why for so many amazing trailblazers-- like Sir Francis Bacon, and Sally Ride-- sexual orientation is not common knowledge.
Seeing that they have contributed so much to the world, marginalized groups such as women, people of color and the LGBTQ community have a long history. But this history is not taught as extensively in schools-- although higher education does a better job of this. Some of that is admittedly attributed to the lack of time and the school system. Because there is so much material to cover and so little time, sometimes teachers do not have much control over their curriculum, so they have to pick and choose what to teach. So why, it seems, do they choose the most basic stories and widely known white men? This could, for sure, have many reasons. It may be that some aspects of history are mainstream and important to know, or it could also be due to the way history uplifts everything white straight men do more than anyone else, thereby making them more mainstream.
White men have been in charge of the narrative of history because they were on top of the hierarchy for so long. Thus, their self-interest lays within themselves and they want to portray themselves as superior. They intentionally suppressed minorities' innovation, because they did not see them as equals. When minorities did have incredible ideas, white men pocketed those ideas for themselves, and white male historians shifted the lenses of history, to favor their own. That is also why terrible things done by cisgender straight white men are also hidden and not taught in history
So the next time you use a hair straightener, computer, or windshield wipers, you can thank an African American, a gay man, and a woman. Our modern world would undoubtedly be drastically different without them.
This picture represents Alan Turing, an English mathematician, and a computer scientist. In 1952, Alan Turing was arrested for homosexuality– which was then illegal in Britain. After being forced into chemical castration treatment as an alternative to prison, Turing died in 1954, from cyanide poisoning which has been determined as suicide.
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