A View from a Pew: Life Without Black People?

From where I sit — from this pew — I want you to imagine something for just a moment.

Imagine an America without Black people. Not just without our music. Not just without our style. Not just without our rhythm, our flavor, our slang, our church choirs, our barbershops, our Sunday dinners.

Imagine America without our contributions. Because as we celebrate our heritage this month, I must confess — it troubles me how little we know about what we’ve actually built.

Black history is more than slavery. More than chains and cotton fields. More than the names we recite every February — though we honor them always.

But let’s push past the “usuals” for a moment. Let’s talk about life without us.

You’d be sitting at a chaotic intersection with no three-light traffic signal — because Garrett Morgan patented it in 1923.

You’d be afraid to ride elevators in tall buildings — because Alexander Miles invented the automatic elevator door that keeps you from falling down a shaft.

Your trains wouldn’t communicate safely without the genius of Granville T. Woods, who developed railway telegraph systems that prevented collisions.

And if machines kept breaking down? You’d be asking for “the real thing” — the original device created by Elijah McCoy — whose automatic lubricator kept engines running smoothly.

Life without Black folks? It would be dangerous.

Your food would spoil without refrigerated transport — because Frederick McKinley Jones created the portable cooling system that made refrigerated trucks possible.

Your house would be cold in the winter without Alice H. Parker, who patented a central heating furnace design.

Your lights would burn out quickly without the carbon filament perfected by Lewis Latimer.

And if you think home security is modern? Marie Van Brittan Brown developed the first home security system in 1966.

Life without Black innovation? It would be uncomfortable.

Who made the mop easier to use? Who improved the ironing board so sleeves could be pressed properly? Who made the dustpan practical? Who automated shoe production so footwear became affordable?

These weren’t accidents. These were Black minds. And yet we walk through life using inventions we didn’t know were ours. Modern blood banks? That’s the work of Charles R. Drew. Laser cataract surgery? Thank Patricia Bath. The first successful open-heart surgery? Performed by Daniel Hale Williams. Groundbreaking pediatric heart procedures? Advanced by Vivien Thomas.

Life without Black people wouldn’t just be inconvenient. It would be shorter. Your cell phone microphone? The video game cartridge? Caller ID?Black brilliance is woven into the devices in your hand.

And while we celebrate athletes and entertainers — and we should — let’s not forget the scientists, engineers, inventors, and tinkerers who were working in back rooms, in segregation, in obscurity… building the modern world.

Now let me address something uncomfortable. There are still people who whisper — and sometimes shout — that America would somehow be better without Black people.

From where I sit — from this pew — I contend the opposite. America without Black people would be darker. Colder. Hungrier. Less safe. Less creative. Less compassionate.

Because when you remove our fingerprints, you remove progress. But here’s the part that concerns me the most: We don’t always know this ourselves.

We let our children do the same five book reports every year. We stop at the surface. We celebrate struggle but forget genius.

This month — and every month — challenge your children. Challenge your schools.
Challenge yourself. Tell them about the inventors behind the traffic light. The blood bank. The elevator door. The refrigerated truck. The heating system.

Make the teacher work for a change. Because heritage without knowledge becomes hollow pride. And pride without understanding becomes noise.

So I’ll close where I began. Life without Black folks? I don’t think so. The question isn’t whether America could survive without us. The real question is: Would America even recognize itself?

From where I sit — from this pew — I already know the answer.