06/08/2026
Knowing History as a Form of Peacemaking
One look at the world around us and it is clear: peace is not going to make itself.
Nations are warring. Communities are divided. Families and friendships can become strained by bitterness, misunderstanding, fear, and contempt. In the middle of that reality, Jesus gives us this wisdom in the seventh beatitude:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
— Matthew 5:9, NIV
Peacemaking is not the same as pretending there is no conflict. It is not silence, avoidance, or simply keeping people comfortable. Jesus never taught a shallow peace built on denial. He taught a deeper peace rooted in truth, humility, mercy, justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
That is why the work of ASALH and the study of African American history are forms of peacemaking.
ASALH’s mission is to promote, research, preserve, interpret, and share information about Black life, history, and culture with the world. (asalh.org) That mission matters because communities cannot make peace with a past they do not know, refuse to face, or have been taught to misunderstand. Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded this movement because he saw that ignorance of Black history distorted the truth, damaged identity, and weakened the moral conscience of the nation. ASALH continues that work through education, research, publishing, local branches, and public programs. (asalh.org)
Knowing history helps us make peace because it replaces myth with memory, stereotypes with evidence, and suspicion with understanding. It helps us see the humanity, struggle, faith, creativity, suffering, resilience, and contributions of people whose stories were often ignored or misrepresented. That kind of truth-telling is not about reopening wounds for the sake of conflict. It is about cleaning the wound so healing can begin.
Peacemaking requires action.
Peacemakers lead with humility. History reminds us that no person, group, institution, or nation has always been right. We all need grace. When we study history honestly, we learn to confess what was wrong, honor what was noble, and repair what remains broken.
Peacemakers lead with empathy. History invites us to listen across generations. It asks us to hear the voices of those who endured slavery, segregation, exclusion, violence, and discrimination, while also seeing how they built churches, schools, families, businesses, movements, music, literature, civic institutions, and pathways of freedom. Empathy does not require agreement with every interpretation, but it does require respect for the evidence and the lived experiences of others.
Peacemakers lead with truth and grace. Truth without grace can become accusation. Grace without truth can become denial. Jesus held both together. In the same way, ASALH’s historical work helps us tell the truth with scholarly integrity and moral purpose. It helps us resist both bitterness and amnesia.
Peacemakers lead people toward reconciliation, not erasure. Reconciliation does not mean forgetting what happened. It means remembering rightly so that we can live differently. It means building bridges strong enough to carry truth, justice, repentance, forgiveness, and shared responsibility.
In that sense, history is not just about yesterday. It is stewardship for tomorrow.
When ASALH preserves and teaches African American history, it is helping communities do the hard work of peacemaking. It is helping us understand how we got here, what must be repaired, what should be celebrated, and how we can walk together with greater wisdom. Peace is not made by hiding the truth. Peace is made when truth is brought into the light with courage, humility, and love.
So the work continues.
We study history not to divide, but to understand.
We preserve history not to accuse, but to remember.
We tell history not to stir hatred, but to build wisdom.
We honor history not to live in the past, but to make peace in the present and prepare a better future.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Join our Northern Virginia Branch and meet us in Norfolk in September for the annual conference as we preserve, promote, and protect history and truth.
https://asalh.org/organizing-northern-virginia-branch-homepage/
