Seeing the unsung

Curricula continues to neglect Black history

Katrell Readus readukat000@hsestudents.org

Black America will likely never receive the recognition or compensation that we deserve for our contributions in any and all elds and yet, even during the one month of the year that is dedicated to us, some of our most deserving and remarkable gures are le without the honor, respect and/or praise that they are more than entitled to. We as American students have been robbed by our nation of an ideologically diverse education when it comes to historical gures, speci cally as it applies to Black activists and leaders.

is is illustrated to us through the taught perception of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X.

In our modern, whitedominated curriculum and district it is easier and more palatable for students to learn about a young scholar who graduated high school at 15, obtained a bachelor’s degree by 19 and won a Nobel Peace Prize by 35 with a passive approach as opposed to a middle school dropout with a criminal record and a ‘by any means necessary’ mindset. ough both of these men made strides for civil rights and demonstrated strength and bravery in the name of equality and the improvement of race relations, only one is a orded recognition in media outputs or curricula. Leaders like Malcolm hold ideologies that are morally challenging for many, as hearing things like ‘Black nationalism’ can be confusing and easily misunderstood by children if not taught correctly. Still, something so simple should by no means derail our education or the honoring of a man who gave his life for the betterment of his people. is pattern is further established through the story of Rosa Parks, the well-known woman who would not give up her seat to a white man on public transportation, and Claudette Colvin, a young teenager who exhibited bravery in the same way prior to Parks, who was then and is now lesser known due to aspects of her life that would not fair well in the light of the media. e backs of Black revolutionaries like Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks have been used as crutches to create and cra a speci c narrative of the civil rights movement and the individuals themselves. Both media and curricula have extorted these gures in order to ‘celebrate’ Black history without having to confront the moral, ethical or societal di erences of people they do not validate such as Claudette Colvin, Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, Angela Davis and

Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl and member of her local NAACP Youth Council, was arrested on March 2, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus, nine months prior to her mentor Rosa Parks who worked as the secretary of the very same local chapter of the NAACP.

After being a standing member of the NAACP, Fred Hampton quickly rose to leadership within the Black Panthers Party, becoming the deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter, organizing rallies, establishing a Free Breakfast program, and negotiating peace pacts amongst rival gangs. Hampton accomplished all of this and more before being killed at 21 years old.

Bayard Rustin Angela Davis

Angela Davis is an activist, leader and professor, with her largest pursuits being her time advocating with Black Panthers. In addition to this, Davis has published several writings of different kinds detailing her lived experience, the ght to end racism, feminism, incarceration’s ugly effects and more.

Before becoming a key ally of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, Bayard Rustin, an openly gay Black man during the Jim Crow era, was jailed for homosexuality and served more than two years. Upon his release, he traveled to King’s home in 1956 and convinced him to adopt the nonviolence protest tactic and a way of life that the reverend is now known for.

“I pointed my camera at people mostly who needed someone to say something for them.” Parks and his photography humanized the Black experience, through his expertly shot images of the segregated south. In addition, Parks made his way into lm, becoming the rst African American to direct a movie for a major studio, he later directed the movie “Shaft,” a hit lm that spawned the Blaxploitation genre.

Audre Lorde defined herself with these words: “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” She was an educator and learner who published her first poem while still in high school. She went on to use her affinity for writing to explore, explain and call out racism, homophobia and her battle with breast cancer. She humanized Black women in a way that was rare for her time.

Humanity, as defined by the Cambridge dictionary, is all the people in the world as a whole as well as the constant effort to show kindness towards and understand other people. Keeping this in mind is vital to peace and equality throughout the world, especially in relation to cultures, identities and beliefs we may not be familiar with.

When leading a life with humanity, it allows you to show empathy towards people with different beliefs that may not make sense to you. However, you still attempt to have an understanding of it. This is important because, according to the National Endowment for the Humanities, it makes up for the uniqueness within cultures throughout the world and awakens us to “the possibilities of human life and culture.” This is due to the fact that other beliefs and backgrounds can produce different ideas, inventions or ways to think about a situation which can end up providing a unique, beneficial solution to everyday, common issues.

We need to have humanity in

Editorial Board Question:

Do you think we as a society are on the right track toward recognizing the importance of humanity? No