Black History Month: The Defender’s Burden
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
To preserve is to protect. To protect is to defend. And to defend is to stand, unwavering, against forces that would erase, distort, or diminish the truth. This is the work of the defender—whether of people or of their stories.
Huey Newton understood this.
Monroe native Huey P. Newton.
Born in Monroe in 1942, Newton would carve his name into history not as a passive witness, but as a force against erasure. He co-founded the Black Panther Party, a movement forged in the crucible of racial injustice, designed to shield Black communities from systemic violence, deprivation, and neglect. To the world, he was a revolutionary. To his people, he was a guardian of their right to exist, to thrive, to tell their own stories. The Northeast Louisiana Delta African-American Heritage Museum, in its own way, carries that same burden.
In this video, local news station KNOE TV-8 goes in depth on the life and career of Monroe native Huey P. Newton while Northeast Louisiana Delta African-American Heritage Museum director, Ross Slacks offers perspective on the significance of Newton’s contribution to black history.
If Newton defended bodies, we defend memory. If he fought for dignity, we fight for legacy. We are the keepers of canvas and pigment, of sculpture and story, of the artistic fingerprints left by those who came before. In our halls, history is not revised to be palatable, nor is it confined to footnotes. It stands in bold color, textured and unflinching, demanding recognition.
In 2019, the Odell S. Williams Now and Then African-American Museum in Baton Rouge was vandalized—its exhibits defaced, its purpose attacked. A deliberate act. An effort to silence. A warning to all institutions that preserve Black history. It was not the first. It will not be the last.
Erasure takes many forms—fires, budgets, policy. A curriculum emptied of Black voices. A grant denied. A museum ignored, left to wither. Those who would diminish us know: when the stories disappear, so too does the truth.
But we are still here.
Newton's idea of defense was never passive. Neither is ours. The museum is a fortress against forgetting, a shield for the artists and visionaries whose work demands to be seen. It is not enough to remember; we must act.
Visit. Witness. Give. Defend. These are not suggestions; they are imperatives. Here’s how:
Show Up & Speak Out – Visit our museum. Bring your family. Bring your students. Be present. Be vocal. Make it impossible for Black history to be ignored. Attend exhibitions, support Black artists, and advocate for the presence of Black stories in public spaces. When these institutions are ignored, they are vulnerable.
Invest in the Work – Support the work. Your contributions matter. Donate, become a member, or fund programs that educate the next generation. Invest in Black artists, buy Black art, and make space for Black voices.
Demand Protection – Contact your representatives. Tell them that Black history is under attack and must remain in schools. Demand funding for Black cultural institutions and artists. Vote for leaders who protect truth, not those who seek to bury it.
Art is more than expression—it is existence. History is more than memory—it is proof. We hold the brush, the pen, the lens.
We will not let them be erased.
We have done it before.
We will do it again.
