I went to a high school in Virginia named after Robert E. Lee, which means they glossed over this stuff the one morning that they taught it.
They taught us about valence electrons but said nothing about entrenched racism in hotel accommodations, publishing, or radio and TV casting and commentary.
We learned French or Spanish, but were taught nothing about the systemic slaughtering of the buffalo, the theft of native land supposedly secured by treaty, or the farms stolen from black landowners after Reconstruction.
I never had a black or Hispanic teacher at any age.
Today my old high school is 34 percent Hispanic, 9 percent black, 10 percent Asian and 42 percent white, and 5 percent multiracial.
But has anything changed in the curriculum?
Not too much; the Republican Governor of Virginia was elected on a platform of absolutely NOT teaching students anything at all about the history of systematic racism in the United States.
1 comment:
I also grew up in VA. Was taught the same with the exception of having black teachers. It is disgraceful,not just the omissions, Our text books LIED about our history. That the whites around me will not even discuss these matters and vote people in to squelch facts is disheartening.
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