History in America is taught from when we were little kids to our college days. It’s repetition after repetition. You learn from a young age, not to question the history being taught and to just listen and memorize. You’re taught to trust your educators and the material they teach. But the truth of the reality is the material taught only covers a small part of the whole truth. Black history is tucked into the minds of the students, and white American history is left to overpower everything.
A 2015 study discusses that, on average, only 8% or 9% of history class time is devoted to black history, and some states neglect the subject altogether. The increased integration in society for black people in schools has allowed for many people to believe racism isn’t as prevalent as 50 years ago. But instead, learn the truth in the inequality presented by society and the lack of proper black history being taught in schools. It took me until my freshman year of college to begin a journey in understanding Black American history. I’ve learned more in my college experience about the black influences in America than in my 12 years in public education. It’s sad that until you specifically sign up for a black history course, you’ll never learn about the true black history in America. But even then, it’s still filtered and not as thoroughly taught.
Students are immediately taught about the enslavement of African Americans and the inhumane actions by traditional America. This can lead to racism passing onto the students because it shows slaves more as objects rather than people. The education system minimizes and is selective about the information taught versus the information withheld. The continued violence against African Americans after the civil war is not discussed thoroughly. The civil rights movement is breezed through and oversimplified. Generations of history are missing from American education. Black people are seen purely from their oppression and discrimination. The negative connotation of black people has enabled a continuation of these actions in schools. Martin Luther King is glorified and is taught to overshadow the rest of the important black historical figures.
The existence of filters in the education system for the majority of our childhood has brainwashed society to believe one side of history to be true. There’s a part of history that America chooses to filter because it presents America in a negative light. The fact that black history is shown from the perspective of someone who can never understand the horrors of being a black person in America explains the misconceptions of black history. Black history curriculum needs to be taught from the black perspective and properly integrated into schools so people can understand the black experience from a black person’s point of view. There needs to be a balance between the good and the bad black experience and the teaching of the culture. Learning about past and present black culture can create more of an understanding of the black experience. The problem with present-day racism is the lack of logic and understanding that ripples from generation to generation.