Slavery Ended After World War II??! Why Facts Matter

Elizabeth Breau, Ph.D

When I decided to write a history book for teens who are studying for the SAT, I was focused on gaps in my students’ education that caused them to make mistakes on history passages that a little more knowledge would help them avoid. History According to SAT would be just that--a chronological summary of the events and ideas that are referenced in test passages. I wanted to share the background knowledge that I use to get the answers right without resorting to the testtaking strategies I teach because I just know them. My students, on the other hand, do not.

For example, many students know nothing about the French Revolution. They misread passages by Edmund Burke, who opposed it, as well as a literature passage from The Scarlet Pimpernel, a 1905 novel. Although an introductory blurb informs students that the novel is about English noblemen who rescue members of the French nobility during the Reign of Terror, this “context clue” is useless to teens who do not know that the Reign of Terror took place during the French Revolution. They make multiple mistakes because they have no idea why the noblewoman in the passage needed to escape Paris.

It gets worse. Numerous high school students have told me that American slavery ended in 1945--right after the Allies won World War II! Others miss key points in a passage from a 1992 speech about the AIDS epidemic because they do not understand the speaker’s indirect references to homophobia. Still others have never heard of South African apartheid, so they do not understand speeches by Nelson Mandela.

Even so, I was unprepared for my research and writing to parallel some of the most disturbing current events of 2020-2022. I was writing about lynching when George Floyd was murdered, and Black Lives Matter protests coincided with my learning about Juneteeth and the Greenwood Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The January 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C. also got into the book. Originally, my introduction to the Cold War included this sentence about the United States: “People elect new leaders when they want change, and our government’s respect for their choice is shown by a peaceful transfer of power from one leader to the next.” After the riot, I felt compelled to add, “The only exception was the Capitol Riot on January I, 2021. However, the riot will probably not be on the SAT because it is recent, unresolved, and controversial.”

These mistakes matter, and not just for standardized tests. The Pew Research Center reports that about two-thirds of Americans believe that democracy is in danger.The French Revolution and the struggle for racial equality in the United States and South Africa are part of a larger story about how human beings around the world became convinced that all people are born with inalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and that governments “derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” As it happens, this story forms the narrative arc of the history passages on the SAT.

Disturbing as that sentence is, it is also an important reminder that our democracy is founded on the idea that we can resolve conflicts without violence--because an educated citizen is able to understand complex issues and participate in solving them. As I watch political violence rise nationwide, I hope that the ideas in my book can help the next generation of leaders understand why our democracy is worth preserving.

Elizabeth Breau, Ph.D., is a private English tutor and the author of History According to SAT: A Content Guide to SAT Reading and Writing. Her website is www.historyaccordingtosat.com, and she can be reached at elizabeth.breau@gmail.com.