That's kinda true. I doubt many would argue that it wasn't that bad. But I have heard it discussed in very clinical terms about economics and states' rights to minimize the role that racism had to play to justify slavery and Jim Crow as long as we did. We often heard that many slaves were treated pretty well (despite being slaves) and that Africans were ultimately better off here and should at least be thankful for that. We heard rebuttals about White people being indentured servants as if that was the same. People noted that Americans bought them from other Africans as if that meant racism didn't play a role.
All that you’ve stated, yes I’ve heard myself too. But not in a school setting. I recall reading all about the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman. There was no trying to justify slavery in middle/high school. No chance.
I didnt say we shouldnt teach it. I asked if we should. I also know that history does have a shelf life. Things cycle out of history books. Otherwise they would be 18 inches thick.
This particular instance is important though because it's local. We teach general themes and then fill in as appropriate. I wonder how many people on this board realize that Florida led the nation in lynchings per capita between the years 1900-1930?
I don't remember much about lessons before high school, but maybe because I was older, I definitely remember my high school teacher talking about the Civil War and saying it wasn't about slavery. It's true that abolition wasn't the initial goal, but it was really misleading the way he framed it IMO. I don't recall any discussion about racism or the declarations of secession where several Southern States openly cited slavery and the "negro" problem as their reasons for secession. Seems like a pretty basic thing. I can't say whether he was representative of other teachers during that time period. Maybe not. I don't think we made it far enough in the book to get to Jim Crow, but I've learned tons of things as an adult that were news to me about how bad it was as recently as the 1960's and early 1970's. Almost all of that treatment was based upon fear, hatred and stereotypes. Heck, I don't think UF gave a scholarship to a Black football player until 1968. That's really the part that I think made a lot of people uncomfortable because to admit the more recent racist history was to call out peoples' grandparents, parents, or even themselves for their own roles or positions during those years.
Justify slavery?! So for the ocoee massacre it’s debatable if it was justified? you keep shooting from the hip. I honestly don’t know what your point is.
Seems that there is some hyperbole and over reach from some posters on both sides. No one is saying we should not teach about slavery, racism, Jim Crow. Do we need to drill down on every terrible deed, action and or moment from those times.. no. Can we discuss the past… warts and all, while focusing on how far we have come and what has brought us this far? Absolutely.
Now that you say it, I learned a lot from my father who lived through segregation. He used to tell me about how crazy it used to be, and I recall saying man, that wasn’t very long ago.
as I’ve said on here before, please show me one primary school in the US that had adopted CRT as part of its curriculum? College? Yes Pre-college? It’s just fearmongering for votes.
Same here. My HS history teacher (she was from Georgia) romanticized the antebellum South and taught us that the war was about states rights. It was just convenient revisionist history to help her feel better. Her favorite movie was Gone With The Wind. But she hated the Dukes of Hazard because she thought it made southerners look dumb.
It is interesting how much some people that claim to be against everything being based on feelings suddenly want history to be about their feelings. We shouldn't teach things because they might make me feel bad and we should focus on the things that make me feel good!
My dad (born in 1947) and I discussed his memories. He told me he recalled as a boy that his dad chastised a White customer at their little store because the White man was mad that my dad called a Black man "sir." I expected my dad to have a lot of crazy stories about the 1960's, and marches, etc. He told me that he was in college, had a wife and one kid at the time, was playing football for at least part of the time and also working a job. He could have pretended he had been a great activist, but he didn't. He had a full plate. He did tell me he thinks his ability to have gotten a football scholarship when Black kids weren't allowed to compete for those spots was a form of privilege that he benefited from. My mom is younger and was still in high school when the schools here were integrated. She described it as very tense and there being a lot of fights.
