Every February, public Schools across the US celebrate black history month. Considering the first people to arrive in Jamestown were forcibly brought here from Africa in the early 1600's, I can not see any reason to just have one month be acceptable for Black History Month. As longs as there is racism in America, why should there only be one month for Black history.
Why do we not take the month February and utilize it for reevaluating how we teach Black History. For example, how many people realize that Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech was stripped of the controversial pieces? The text students read today are edited by most text book companies. Why do we not teach of Dr. King's protest of the Vietnam War? Why do we not ask kids to learn the facts behind a dream deferred as suggested by Teaching Tolerance magazine?
While I am ranting a bit. Please check out my clip of Malcolm X. The Autobiography of Malcolm X should be standard reading in High School. Malcolm X explains why today, it does matter to a person that your ancestral history was stolen from you. Do other citizens in our country understand the meaning of this point?
How many African-American women are left out of the equitable teaching of American History. I truly do not know. Where is the dialog among students about tolerance? Can Tolerance be measure on a test? Probably not. How can we free our teachers to be free to have classroom experiences that touch upon the social learning of tolerance? Maybe this is what we should dedicate our efforts towards.....
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