Connecting with our history can make us better communicators

This year has spurred so much emotion in so many people, just go on social media at any given moment and you will read comments that I can only believe stem from anger and fear. The unrest is not prompting constructive conversations but instead inciting panic and divide. 

This is not about politics; it’s about how we communicate.

Speakers and coaches quote historical figures often. These quotes and stories are also weaved into State of the Union Addresses and political speeches across the country.

My parents emigrated to this country for a better life. They are among the many stories depicting the American Dream. The old saying goes, “if you don’t know history, you are bound to repeat it.”

We are supposed to learn from history -- the good, bad and ugly.

I took a trip to Washington DC and boarded a bus for a 90-minute driving tour around the District, one of the few things you can do in DC these days because of COVID.

Buddy Love was our driver and guide. With his dreadlocks and street slang, Buddy delivered an engaging and entertaining history lesson. The stories shared are those you didn’t read in history books like the one about William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States (1909-1913) who was a large man. He reportedly weighed 355 pounds while in office, and according to rumor, he was so large that he once got stuck in the White House bathtub. “It actually was designed to fit four grown men,” explained Love on the tour.

The eerie similarities between President Abraham Lincoln and President John F. Kennedy are facts I don’t remember learning in school. Although these were interesting, the stories that were most important have been forgotten or never heard. The stories of Benjamin Banneker, Thurgood Marshall and the fact that Abraham Lincoln’s mom came from black ancestry. Buddy Loves explained that Abraham Lincoln’s mother has black in family line.

Elaborating on what Buddy Love explained, I further learned that in 1778, Benjamin Banneker drafted law in Virginia that prohibited the future importation of enslaved Africans, and in 1784 he proposed a law that would ban slavery in the growing territories of the Northwest. He hoped that these limits would contribute to gradually phasing away the slave economy. Banneker, whose schooling and scientific training was minimal, had a clear talent for mathematics and machines, writes the Library of Congress. He was also a talented astronomer–a skill that proved useful in producing the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanac which he published from 1791 to 1802

Thurgood Marshall was rejected for admission to the University of Maryland School of Law in his hometown of Baltimore, so the often-told story goes, simply because he was black. Marshall was an American lawyer and civil rights activist who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's first African-American justice. Prior to his judicial service, he successfully argued several cases before the Supreme Court, including Brown v. Board of Education.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Marshall graduated from the Howard University School of Law in 1933. He established a private legal practice in Baltimore before founding the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where he served as executive director. In that position, he argued several cases before the Supreme Court, including Smith v. All wright, Shelley v. Kraemer, and Brown v. Board of Education, the latter of which held that racial segregation in public education is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Four years later, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Marshall as the United States Solicitor General. In 1967, Johnson successfully nominated Marshall to succeed retiring Associate Justice Tom C. Clark. Marshall retired during the administration of President George H. W. Bush, and was succeeded by Clarence Thomas.

I know not all will agree with me but this is my perspective. I realized that some historical figures have questionable pasts and I don't believe that their contributions to our history should be destroyed or toppled down. My thought on this issue is, why not share those good and bad parts of their lives so we can better our lives today?

It’s all part of what has made this country what it is today. The stories are important lessons for these generations and future ones. Erasing history doesn’t solve problems but communicating historical stories enable us to learn, make changes and prompt progress.

History helps us communicate in our careers, providing us institutional knowledge and historical facts that make people better at their jobs - teachers, politicians, lawyers, journalists, doctors, activists and so on.

I truly believe if majority of people really knew our history, we would have a greater appreciation for it.

Knowing history enhances our ability to communicate it. We can engage in lively conversations and learn lessons. We need to connect with our history in order to be better communicators.

Buddy Love’s Rundown of Similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy

The Kennedy Center in D.C. was designed to look like the Lincoln Memorial because of the many similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. “It’s kind of scary,” said Love. “It was like the two were spiritually connected.”

-Lincoln has seven letters in his name. Kennedy has seven letters in his name.

-Both were assassinated on Fridays. Both of them were shot in the head.

-Both of them were killed in front of their wives.

-Both of their wives lost children while in the White House.

-Both were assassinated by southerners and both were succeeded by southerners.

-Both southerners who succeeded them had last name of Johnson. Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln, born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson succeeded Kennedy; he was born 1908.

-Abraham Lincoln was elected into Congress 1846. Kennedy was elected into Congress 1946.

-Abraham Lincoln was elected President 1860. Kennedy was elected President 1960.

-Both of their assassins’ names are comprised of 15 letters.

John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln. He was born 1839.

Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated Kennedy. He was born 1939.

-Abraham Lincoln had a secretary whose name was Kennedy who warned Lincoln not to go the theater where he was killed. Kennedy had a secretary whose name was Lincoln who warned Kennedy not to go to Dallas where he was killed.

- Booth killed Lincoln in a theater and was caught in a warehouse. Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and was caught in a theater. Both assassins were murdered before they went to trial. 

Vanessa Denha Garmo is a Communications Strategist, Coach, Content Creator and Storyteller. She is the founder of Epiphany Communications & Coaching.