At 07:33 PM 3/2/98 EST, you wrote:
>I also get a little annoyed when professors speak of African-American history
>through the eyes of slavery only.  African-Americans have contributed a great
>deal to America and this should also be emphasized.

Yes!  The Kendall Whaling Museum has a permanent exhibition (soon to be
online as well) called "Heroes in the Ships": African Americans in the
Whaling Industry.

Men of color played an enormously important role in the whale fishery.
From Colonial times to the twentieth century, men of African ancestry were
active in New England’s whaling industry as sailors, blacksmiths,
shipbuilders, officers, &                                       owners.

By the 1840s, black sailors constituted about one-sixth of the labor force;
and by
1900, African Americans and Cape Verdeans had become a majority.

The positive stories should be part of the message.

Ellen Hazen