Teaching Black history in schools
RITIKA MANATHARA: Recent events regarding the education of Black History Month in American schools have brought up new questions about what should be taught and more importantly, how they should be taught.
A staple of Black History Month is educating kids and teens on the many Black figures who have contributed significantly to American history, with many of them often being overlooked by the media and standard curriculums. This tradition goes back to 1926, when Carter G. Woodson—a prominent historian and educator—realized how little schools were teaching about Black history and how inaccurate that education was. He called for a week to honor the forgotten Black people who helped America become what it was and educate children and the general public on their true history without sugarcoating it or making it fit a white-perspective. However, in today’s public school system, this goal is rarely fully achieved.
In recent years, more and more people have been bringing up the lack of education on Black history, specifically during Black History Month. When most students learn about Black history, they often learn about slavery, the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement— that’s it. Of course, these are some of the most important events in American history, but that does not mean Black history should be restricted to just these subjects when there is much more that students should learn about. Even when those events are taught, students often do not learn the full truth about them and are often given a whitewashed version of history. North Carolina public schools, for example, teach that Africans immigrated to the colonies, which is not only inaccurate, but also erases the atrocities committed against the enslaved Africans. Even when it comes to current racial issues, public schools fail to provide sufficient education as only a few states include “white supremacy” in their guidelines. For schools that do require a certain level of Black History education, there are yet more issues when it comes to how receptive the community’s parents are towards this.
Perhaps the most significant recent event that demonstrates the issues regarding this subject is a Utah public charter school that gave parents of their students the opportunity to opt out of the Black History Month curriculum taught at the school. In a majority white school in a majority white town, it seems all the more important for Black history to be taught to everyone, yet several parents felt that it was not necessary for their kids to learn about such an important part of history. Understandably, the school’s decision was faced with widespread backlash including from people such as Betty Sawyer—the director of the NAACP in Ogden. Quickly responding to the negative reaction, the school reversed their decision, but the initial choice to even give parents the chance to opt out of the curriculum displays a dangerous rhetoric: the idea of Black History being optional. The chances of parents wanting to remove their children from, let’s say white history, are nonexistent, mainly because that makes up the vast majority of American history curriculum. When a school makes the effort to include Black history in its education, it should not cancel out the progress it has made by framing it as a choice instead of a vital part of history.
As much attention as occurrences like this get, just as much attention should go to the teachers who work hard to make sure Black history is being taught and constantly find new, creative ways to do so. Art teacher Michelle Alexander from Newark, N.J. created her own coloring books as a way to introduce her students to Black artists and their history. Author and high school teacher Claudia Walker from the Bay Area decided to write a book educating children on HBCUs and highlighting their importance. Instances like these exhibit the myriad of ways that schools can educate their students on Black history along with instituting standard curriculum. There are likely many more teachers with unique ideas for their students who may not receive the opportunity to act on them, making it all the more important for people to support endeavors like these.
Parents too have found their own ways to incorporate creativity and new ideas into educating their children on what their schools fail to do. Chauncia Boyd Rogers from Dallas, Texas started educating her daughter on Black history after discovering that her school was not doing so, dressing her up as important Black women and teaching her about their importance. Stories like this have inspired plenty of other parents across the country to carry out similar activities with their children.
Ultimately, it should be the responsibility of the schools to educate students of all races on Black history and current racial issues. It is amazing for parents to share their own knowledge and help their children grow and gain a better understanding of Black history, but they should not be forced to do so because of a complete lack of education in schools. For Americans to truly celebrate Black History Month, they need to start by ensuring that all schools provide students with quality education on all facets of Black history and highlight the incredible contributions Black people have made to American history and continue to make today.
Ritika Manathara is a freshman from New Jersey studying Government in the College.