Schools Fail to Teach Black History

By LINDSEY WAGONER

Slavery, an oppressive and painful legacy for African Americans,  is our nation’s shared history. But, is it being taught to children in the right way? 

On February 2020, Nashville,Tennessee, a student-teacher was fired after having students listen to and recite a violent speech about how to control slaves. In  February 2019, in Brambleton, Virginia, physical education teachers created an obstacle course and tied the activity to a simulation of the slave experience in the Underground Railroad. And in March 2019, Bronxville, New York private school held a slave auction where white students placed bids on their black classmates. 

The United States education system struggles to teach slavery and the history of the African-American experience in this country. There is no curriculum educators follow, critics say. There is no consensus on the academic standards set by administrators. There is no strict lesson plan teachers adhere to. It is taught as a fleeting blip in history. February usually is the time when there is a focus on the history and ancestry of African Americans. But some argue that is should be included regularly in Amerian history studies.

Virginia Greco, a retired middle school librarian for East Ramapo Central School District says, “Black history is all of our history and should be taught as a core, it should be taught as a core part of the history program, and not as a special program.”

Math is different. Math has easy answers. Slavery is bloody and very hard subject matter to teach, especially to elementary schoolchildren. Some educators are spreading misinformation and flawed ideas about slavery and race, observers say. 

Altering History

Four years ago textbooks changed the term, “Slaves,” to “Workers.” The word “Worker,” indicates a willing participation and omits the fact that slaves were forced here in chains -against their will and labeled property. Trivializing the slave experience and distorting our nation’s ugly history sends the wrong message to children. 

In 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center issued a report after examining textbooks, surveying teachers and questioning students. The report discovered that slavery is mistaught by teachers and students are poorly educated about the most basic facts. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project has identified multiple failures.  

• High school students are unable to answer the most fundamental questions about slavery.
• Teachers struggle to provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject.
• Textbooks inadequately cover the topic of slavery.
•  Failure to set suitably “high expectations.”

In an article by the Washington Post, “The missing pieces of America’s education,” historians outline important aspects of slavery that are often neglected in classrooms across the country. 

The African-American resistance and rebellion to slavery humanizes their fight. Though they were seeking total liberation, they often settled for smaller victories that made their lives more bearable. 

 It is insufficient for teachers to mention just one example of one slave’s experience and fight for freedom, experts say. Students can misperceive this narrow focus of one story, as only the people who tried to escape really wanted to be free. This is problematic as it leads to uninformed views of the enslaved.

Instead, experts note, teachers  should explain how slaves banded together to achieve common goals. Slaves sabotaged crops, learned unique skills that made them irreplaceable, and attacked their enslavers property to cause economic hardship. 

Without highlighting the rebellion, students interpret those that did not rebel as accepting their own enslavement. When slavery is taught too narrowly, students lose pivotal insights about slavery in America.