Sources: Black Thunder by Arna Bontemps and the news coverage of the Texas school board
I went to school for many years in Richmond, Virginia. 2nd through half of 8th grade, plus high school. That comes to about ten years of public school instruction and ten years of instruction in history, both local, national, and world.
Why in the world did I have to come to a Mormon university (with a great library) in order to stumble upon the story of Gabriel Prosser and the almost-destruction of Richmond? Did they think the story would scare little white kids? Did they think they should censor history to preserve some vestige of southern respectability? I have not been entirely silent about the conservative state school board in Texas making "cosmetic" changes to their history texts. I find it despicable and overtly political. That board is making a concerted attempt to delete any white heroes whose pure reputations they may have trouble defending. Thomas Jefferson was fairly radical, encouraged equality of man, but also had intimate relations with his slaves? Too controversial, too hypocritical, he is now stricken from Texas' record of national history.
But, in the vein of Stokely Carmichael, I now find that my own backyard is not quite in order. Virginia (and other states, for sure) has been involved in the same political games. Why give a month to black history if (mostly) white and (all) middle-class folks decide what that history entails? Why don't children learn about Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, and the Black Panthers? For the simple reason, as I've stated in other posts, that the conflict of the 60s and 70s (and the 1800s) has not been resolved. The root causes still exist. And teaching children about revolutionaries might re-ignite the revolution against corruption, inequality, and privilege.
I don't mean to act as if I didn't know history is and has always been shaped by politics. Maybe I should even applaud the Texas school board for being so frank about it. At least, with it out in the open, interested parties can seek out alternative information more easily. However, the major quality of all this politicking is our continued skewed vision of "America." I know the History channel is starting a six-part program called "America: The Story of Us" on Sunday, and I'll be interested to see what they show. But six hours of television will never trump 12 years of educational instruction during a child's most formative period. I'm almost looking forward to the extra "homework" I'll be assigning to my children when they get to school. Is that too revotionary?
Definitely not revolutionary at all. Definitely planning on doing the same thing when I have kids. Of course, I have to convince some poor sap to marry me first, lol.
ReplyDeleteAt risk of sounding almost scarily conservative, I think it's almost completely the parents responsibility to give their children an education. As you so eloquently pointed out, the school systems aren't doing it. I plan to educate my kids on not only history, but principles like feminism, human rights equality, etc. Goodness knows they're not going to teach them in the public schools.