There is one big problem that needs to be addressed with regards to examining history in general, but African American history in particular. Too often, people tend to examine individual historical periods and events as isolated incidents, without ever trying to link a chain between them to draw historical connections and conclusions examining a more comprehensive scale. For example, the first World War and the second World War are usually studied in the mainstream as individual wars, often leaving out how interconnected the two global conflicts were. In short, the economic and social effects of the first war led directly to the second World War by setting the stage perfectly for the subsequent conflict to occur twenty years later.
I will use the academic pariah of Ms. Applebaum, the middle school social studies teacher to illuminate the fact that the same goes for the history of African Americans in the United States. There are several different events that are studied throughout one’s primary/secondary education that are examined as isolated events, and in this way prove to be extremely problematic in understanding the development of African American history and these events’ relationships to present conflicts dealing with race.
The beginning of the Transatlantic slave trade, perhaps a snippet or two about slavery in between this, the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th-15th amendments to the United States Constitution, and a perfunctory overview of the Civil Rights movement were all that people like myself learned about the history and legacy of African Americans in this country during my primary and secondary education. These events were not usually displayed as being linked together other than the fact that they occurred in chronological order that give the student a fragmented understanding that Africans were brought to America in the 1600s, enslaved people were liberated after the Civil War, and the Civil Rights movement was perhaps the biggest battle in the 20th century to end de jure racism. On a separate, yet similar note, how many of us in sixth grade thought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the entirety of the Civil Rights Movement? I never even heard about the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ strike until I came to Rhodes College.
What is ignored are the constant battles and confrontations of these issues by Black folks in America throughout the entirety of American history, which is seriously overlooked and ignored sometimes, reflected in the mainstream epistemology of ignorance. By examining these constant confrontations of ideologies, laws, and violence, students of the present can better understand current racial issues and responses to racism, as well as the develop the tools necessary to more effectively participate in these conversations.
Pledged,
Warren Socher
Word Count: 448
Our educational system has failed us in many ways, especially leaving out important events and facts within the Africana experience. Sometimes I think the problem is in fact with the curriculum mixed with a teacher's motive and a student's curiosity. For me, in middle school, I learned and only questioned what was put in front of me. It wasn't until my junior year in high school that I decide to take control of my education and go beyond what my teacher was instructed to teach me. Yes, our educational standards and curriculum has failed us, yes our teachers has done a disgrace by not including tasks and assignments that doesn't correlate to history books, but when do we hold students accountable as well. You never heard about the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike until you came to Rhodes not only because of the lack of information in history books, but maybe because you also didn't take the initiative to go beyond the book.
ReplyDeleteI'm not blaming students; I just think the least teachers can do is provide text, website or activities for students to get the opportunity to think outside of what's in history books.