Teaching Black History in Our Schools

By Dr. Jessica A. Johnson

The belligerent debates in many schools and states across the nation regarding critical race theory (CRT) and how Black history is taught unfortunately has no end in sight.

Last year, South Dakota and Mississippi passed bills under what has come to be known as “anti-CRT legislation,” although CRT is not specifically mentioned in the text of these bills. For example, Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2113 precisely emphasizes that no subject matter can be taught that would coerce students to believe “that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is inherently superior or inferior.”

The Brookings Institution published a report in November of 2021 featuring nine states — Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Arizona, and North Dakota — that passed anti-CRT bills, highlighting that Arizona’s law was overturned by its Supreme Court and that only Idaho’s and North Dakota’s statutes included “critical race theory explicitly.” The crucial dilemma confronting public K-12 educators teaching U.S. history in these states is pushback from lawmakers over what is deemed satisfactory classroom content regarding the experiences of Blacks and other minorities in America.

CRT focuses on systemic racism and how it has been historically imbedded in our laws and political and social institutions, so it is a scholarly perspective in which Black history can be presented. When thinking about Black history in general, however, systemic racism is always a component of examination by simply telling stories of how great African American men and women overcame racial barriers in this country while still believing in its ideals of equality and justice. For instance, an elementary or middle school teacher giving a lesson on Black inventor and scientist Dr. George Washington Carver can inspire students by discussing his humble beginnings as a slave to becoming an influential agricultural researcher whose crop cultivation methods significantly impacted the South’s farming industry.

Carver’s infancy began with tragedy as he, his mother and sister were taken by slave kidnappers who came through Diamond, Missouri in 1864. Carver was the only one able to be retrieved by their master, Moses Carver, who taught him how to read and write -nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”

Now much of Black history is uncomfortable to teach, such as the 1831 slave rebellion led by Nat Turner, a preacher who lived on a Southampton County, Virginia plantation. Turner’s insurrection resulted in the massacre of nearly 200 slaves by white mobs and the violent mutilation of his body after he was captured and hung.

It is apparent that many lawmakers fear that teaching certain accounts of Black history will result in radical indoctrination of students. Georgia’s CRT ban prohibits teachers from discussing anything that makes students feel “guilt” or “psychological distress,” but if history is taught appropriately there will be some discomfort. It is a great disservice to students to sugarcoat the difficult parts of our past, especially when they can be motivated by their teachers to push for change in the future.

Dr. Jessica A. Johnson is a lecturer in the English department at The Ohio State University’s Lima campus. Email her at smojc.jj@ gmail.com.