The Invisible History

How can people of color or women of any color ever gain a sense of responsibility or self-esteem on this planet if they are absent, invisible and non-existent in the stories that are told of our past?  I am deeply embarrassed to have learned that I never knew about the man responsible for saving my father's life:  Vivien Thomas.  I grew up hearing about his marvelous doctors, Dr. Blalock and Dr. Taussig who performed one of the first heart bypass surgeries on my dad back in 1946.  I even got to meet Dr. Taussig at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore when I was a kid, but no one even mentioned Vivien Thomas, a black man who assisted Dr. Blalock during most of his history-making surgeries.  Dr. Blalock's photo was on the cover of Life Magazine that year, but Vivien was invisible from both photo and text.   If we wait for someone else to tell these stories, then what are we saying about racism of the past?  If we continue to remain silent, are we advocating racism in the present?  My dad was 68 years old before he was contacted by an HBO movie producer who told the story of Vivien Thomas's amazing accomplishments in Something the Lord Made starring Mos Def.  Why wasn't it my family who had been telling the story of Vivien Thomas for the past sixty years? Will you wait to hear about all of the invisible African Americans who may have had an impact on your life, or will you be the one to tell the story?