History cannot be experienced if it is not noted or passed down. As a student, I experienced my teachers talk in truth, depth, or equity about African Americans or those of Latinx or indigenous backgrounds. It was not until college that my eyes were partially opened, and I felt that I too mattered and that my people had major roles in the formation of America.
I am a teacher at an inner-city, magnet-themed school for the New Haven Public School District located in New Haven, Connecticut. Most of my years as an educator were spent as an English Language Arts teacher with experiences in curriculum and instruction, administration, and journalism. My school serves more than 700 students in grades Pre-k-8, from urban and neighborhood communities with some suburban students from surrounding towns.
As a Social Studies teacher to students in grades seven and eight I have discovered through my experiences that my discipline has intentionally limited or erased information that is part of American history. The foundation of Social Studies curriculum fosters racism. History and Social Studies educators must go beyond teaching students to memorize dates and the causes of war. They must instead remix their curriculum and make adjustments, to create anti-racist Social Studies.
Last year as I began reflecting on the 2020 curricular topic for YNTI, it had become evident that more than ever before the practice and acceptance of systemic racism was being challenged. The tally sheet on whether there were measurable and consistent “gains” made during the Civil Rights Movement that still exist today were also being examined. There had not been this force of world-wide voices who discussed these issues so loudly since the 1960s. However, when looking through the anti-racist lens you discover that these issues have been brought to the forefront, perhaps by singular voices like those of James Baldwin who began to call out the educational system for its practices more than 50 years ago.
Progressing through elementary, middle, and high school I rarely heard my teachers talk in truth, depth, or equity about the experiences of brown and black people. People of color have often felt that they had no part in the history that they learn about in school. For most students, their entry into middle school and high school are limited to historic facts focused on slavery, black inventors, and civil rights era highlights. This implicitly communicates strongly that black and brown students strongly to black and brown students that their accomplishments and contributions to society have had little or no value.” Thus, the persistent results of the dominant group’s actions are to devalue and dehumanize the contributions of those who are not classified as a part of the dominant group. I call it erasure or the state of being invisible.
In turn our teachers, need to be able to identify racial holes or places where they discover the curriculum has conveniently left out the voice and even actual real historical experiences of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people. Finally, teachers must be made to feel comfortable and confident in addressing and shoring up the weakened places in their curriculums.
In his paper called, A Talk to Teachers,” writer James Baldwin tells his audience, “…you must understand that in the attempt to correct so many generations of bad faith and cruelty, when it is operating not only in the classroom but in society, you will meet the most fantastic, the most brutal, and the most determined resistance. There is no point in pretending that this won’t happen.” Baldwin is known as prolific writer of African American heritage who decried racial injustice through interviews, novels and articles and stated that white America’s claims to whiteness were flawed, inaccurate and baseless. With everything that Americans learn about during their educational journey the dominant group has constructed a system that devalues, debases, erases, ignores and disrupts the narratives of brown and black people.
One such example is the 1921 Race Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma—this event has rarely made it into history books or any student textbooks. In Tulsa’s, all black, Greenwood section on May 31 a white mob attacked black residents and burned down their homes and businesses. A church, a library, schools, doctor’s offices, law offices, more than 200 businesses, and homes belonging to more than 10,000 people were destroyed and or torched. Of that 10,000 -- all of whom were black were displaced and forced to become refugees after being expelled from their lands, homes, and businesses. At least 300 blacks and approximately 30 whites were killed, although the actual numbers have varied over the years. According to the documentary titled "Tulsa 1921: An American Tragedy," planes flew over the area dropping kerosene, nitroglycerin and turpentine bombs as whites below set fire to homes—even killing black residents who tried to escape. The two-day event was started because someone reported that a white woman, Sarah Page, was screaming in an elevator as saw a young black man leaving. Page did not go on record making the complaint against the young man. Family members of the young man said that they were actually friends and were possibly dating and other reports that he possibly bumped into her. By the end of the rampage on June 1, the 35 square blocks of what was originally called “Negro Wall Street” by Booker T. Washington, were leveled, and burned. Professor Karlos Hill, from the University of Oklahoma, described it as an “intentional and systematic… military-styled assault on a civilian community.”