President Obama walks fine line on race, justice
11 years ago
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Should African-American history be taught in schools?
When doing research for my critical essay, I have noticed that most primary high school institutions primarily focus on how white people founded and made America what it is today. I have found many reasons for why African-American history should be taught in high schools, but I want to know what you think. Do you think it is important to educate our youth not only on how white people colonized America but also how black people played a role in creating America today? Do you think it would help eliminate racism if everyone had this knowledge?
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I feel that African American history should be highlighted and taught more accurately than it currently is in schools, but not taught as a separate subject. I think that we must teach primary school history as an racially integrated subject (to the highest degree possible) because teaching it separately would only reinforce segregation, differences, and an us vs. them mentality.
ReplyDeleteI remember we talked a little about this topic earlier in the semester when we discussed black history month. We were talking about how learning about the history of African-American culture only for one month out of the year does not even begin to do the job. I do not know if it would help eliminate racism if African-American history were taught in high school, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. It is important that students are taught about the role that African-Americans played in forming the country we live in today.
ReplyDeletei think that this is a very important question
ReplyDeleteto teach African American history as to this group's contribution into making America what it is, would be a good idea, but
definitely agree with Claire about not teaching it as a seperate issue because this will promote segregation
however, i was just wondering how this could be done, because (this will expose me of my ignorance) what are the positive aspects of African American history? fighting for human rights? what other things, this is very interesting to me.
but also i was thinking that it would be a good thing to teach it, if it will be taught so that children know that African Americans, are Americans they may have come to America unwillingly but the present day African American probably does not even associate themselves with Africa
so it would be important to emphasize the fact that this is History, then focus on the present
as i say this, i think of difficult it will be to seperate the two (as in the history and the present) because the current situation has so much that is carried over from this history
in short it would be a good idea but it would be very difficult i think and will it eliminate racism, i dont think so, simply because of the difficulties anticipated, but definetly a good start
From what I have read the biggest contention seems to be that African American history is typically taught as a separate entity from that of American history. Although I wouldn't go as far as to suggest that the idea of separate histories necessitates or promotes segregation, I would certainly agree that teaching the histories as separate entities is problematic. In my opinion, this practice promotes the adaptation of separate historical identities and mitigates the fact that this country's early wealth and prosperity was largely born on the back of slaves. Ultimately, if you teach African American history separate from American history as a whole you are diminishing the impact and historical role that Africans played in the Americas.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, it seems to me that most of the 'African American history' that I encountered in high school placed emphasis on the role that individuals played in the liberation of the African American community. While this is certainly important, I find it astonishing that the impact of the civil rights movement (for example) is limited to this in the retelling of history. Surely the civil rights movement set the stage for more than just a rehashing of political policy directed toward blacks? The fact that our historical tale actively distinguishes an African American history from American history suggests that in many ways our culture is still not ready to accept an United States that is as much a product of Black ambitions as it is of White.