As a people, we don’t know who we are, historian William Speller said Monday in a lecture given at the Center for Black Studies.

Speller, who has been teaching for about 40 years and resides near Northeastern University, was part of the council that helped start African-American studies programs in Illinois schools.

On Monday, Speller spoke to IDSP 302, a class that covers topics on black studies.

Senior undecided major Cinque Singleton said Speller tried to promote a knowledge of black history.

“He was telling us that we need to gain knowledge of self in the black community, predominately on white college campuses,” Singleton said.

Speller discussed many topics, and one of them was profanity.

“Excessive use of profanity indicates a poverty of intellect,” Speller said.

Sophomore undecided major George Smith said Speller’s quote about profanity is correct.

“Many people don’t think before they say something,” he said.

In high school, Speller was taught that William Shakespeare had 20,000 words in his vocabulary. Speller’s goal was to double that amount in his own vocabulary. With that in mind, he asked students if they think rappers swear because they’re angry.

“Rappers aren’t angry,” Speller said. “They’re doing that just to get paid. So stop lying, tell yourselves the truth. Think for yourselves.”

Speller also told students they need to re-think what they’ve learned.

“Black people have to take everything they know and consider it a lie, then start from scratch,” he said. “Black students were the backbone of the civil rights movement. You wouldn’t ever hear that because of the unrest of the ’60s, a civil rights bill was passed.”

Students always say there’s nothing for them to do, Speller said.

“Get concerned about your own education,” he said.

Singleton said he’s concerned about his education.

“I don’t believe NIU offers enough black history courses. I’d like to see more,” he said.