Slavery, often referred to as America’s original sin and its systemic carry-over into our modern era, can be found in everything from our stock exchange to our prison systems. As a student of U.S. history, I, along with those far more deeply acquainted with public school history textbooks, find that our educational materials deliver what has been referred to as “slavery-lite” versions of our nation’s story.
The Star-Spangled Banner (courtesy of Jaclyn Nash, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)
In Germany, schools are legally mandated to teach the factual brutality of the Holocaust and not a sanitized version that would neglect the horrible truth of this part of Germany’s history. In the United States, there are some who prefer to whitewash our history of slavery and racism by calling it divisive and dangerous.
I prefer to hear and accept the words of a 5th grade teacher who remarked about teaching the history of slavery and racism in our schools to our children. She says, “It’s called good teaching, to tell truths and have students look at a variety of experiences — and a rich landscape of experiences. Otherwise, it’s just propaganda.”
Studies have been conducted surveying high school seniors and social studies teachers. One survey found that only 8% of the students surveyed could identify slavery as a primary cause of our Civil War. In addition, only about 25% could identify how the U.S. Constitution gave advantages to slaveholders. Another study indicated that 58% of the teachers who responded indicated that their textbooks were inadequate in addressing the issues of slavery and racism in our history.
I fully agree with the statement of Kevin Welner, professor of education at the University of Colorado and Director of the National Education Policy Center: “A lie is always more a threat than the truth, even when the truth is painful. Our children need to know the painful truth of racism.”
The purpose of our educational system should be to build under our students a launching platform from which they can excel upward into a brighter, productive, successful future — to produce informed, creative kids who have been given the tools of independent critical thinking.
Education should open minds to facts, science, and our history — not close doors to them. Regressive-thinking adults prefer to hide facts and truth from students, as exhibited in the recent order from President Trump adding warning signs to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Trump’s desire to whitewash this history is a tragic display of ignorance.
One of the most brutal killings of an enslaved person took place in 1899 when Sam Hose was murdered by several hundred people in Coweta County, Georgia. This 21-year-old farmhand was accused, without a trial, of killing his employer and raping his employer’s wife. A mob of local citizens chained Hose to a tree, cut off his ears, fingers, and genitals while the so-called “Christian” folks cheered and sang church hymns.
It was not unusual to have a lynched person set on fire while still alive. Once the evil deed was finished, some onlookers would break off a finger or a toe to take home as a souvenir. Today’s students in our public secondary schools must be taught this tragic period of the history of slavery and racism that has infected the soul of our nation and lives on today in the background stories of our black brothers and sisters. It is our Holocaust!
The future of our democracy depends upon our students understanding this past. Teaching our history of slavery and racism is not airing our dirty laundry. It is about bearing the hidden roots of racism, the source of injustice in our modern-day society.
Edward “Ned” Walsh is a retired Baptist denominational worker.
