Checking Out Me History

"Checking Out Me History" was written by the British Guyanese poet John Agard and first published in 2005, in the collection Half-Caste. The poem focuses on the holes in the British colonial education system—particularly that system's omission of important figures from African, Caribbean, and indigenous history. In other words, the poem discusses how colonized people were forced to learned about British history—which had little to do with their actual lives—at the expense of their own history. Not only does the poem call attention to the oppressive nature of colonial education, but it also praises important figures who were left out—figures such as Touissaint L'Ouverture, the leader of the Haitian revolution. The poem suggests the colonial syllabus deliberately blinded colonized people to their own histories, and argues that only by re-learning their history can these people can fully understand and embrace their identities.

Dem tell me

Wha dem want to tell me

Bandage up me eye with me own history

Blind me to my own identity

Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat

dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat

But Touissant L’Ouverture

no dem never tell me bout dat

Toussaint

a slave

with vision

lick back

Napoleon

battalion

and first Black

Republic born

Toussaint de thorn

to de French

Toussaint de beacon

of de Haitian Revolution

Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloon

and de cow who jump over de moon

Dem tell me bout de dish run away with de spoon

but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon

Nanny

see-far woman

of mountain dream

fire-woman struggle

hopeful stream

to freedom river

Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and Waterloo

but dem never tell me bout Shaka de great Zulu

Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492

but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too

Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale and she lamp

and how Robin Hood used to camp

Dem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soul

but dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole

From Jamaica

she travel far

to the Crimean War

she volunteer to go

and even when de British said no

she still brave the Russian snow

a healing star

among the wounded

a yellow sunrise

to the dying

Dem tell me

Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me

But now I checking out me own history

I carving out me identity

By John Agard