On My Mission

Is American history education racist?

Welcome to Beyond the Pages!

Before jumping straight into the first essay I wanted to lay out what this podcast and newsletter are all about. The Missing Pages podcast is a personal journey through American history to find where the current high school education is lacking. If you want to hear more about the podcast you can head over to the preview episode. The podcast can stand on its own, but there are certain topics and ideas that I want to explore deeper as I make my way through American history. Therefore, the newsletter will cover current events and historical contexts, deeper philosophical debates that underlie the historical story, or some thoughts about what I am reading outside of the historical texts.

On the third Friday of each month, I will release an extended essay (around 2000-3000 words) that relates directly to the podcast episode released that month. These essays will not include any critical historical facts that will not be covered in the podcast, so they are not mandatory reading. The essays are meant to act as a supplement to the podcast. In the future, I may start writing shorter pieces and quick hits that are outside of the scope of the large essay, but for now, expect one essay a month. For this first one, I want to go a little deeper into the mission of this podcast and why I am taking this journey through American history.

As I stated in the podcast, this journey began in the summer of the 2020 “racial reckoning” that was taking place after George Floyd was killed. This movement impacted all segments of American society, not least of which was history education. Someone that graduated from the high school I went to took this opportunity to write an open letter denouncing the school and the school district at large. The author wrote a list of grievances and a list of demands to make sure the school system addresses those wrongs. The author then laid out why this is so important to address:

I do not know if this is still the curriculum at the schools I attended. However, it was this way when I and hundreds of my peers attended. I need you to see that my education at OASD contributed to my ignorance instead of liberating me from it. Generating this ignorance is part of OASD’s legacy. I need you to see that in this student, me, OASD failed to inform and prepare me to recognize racial disparities and that failure is killing people. You owe it to your Black,  Indigenous, and students of color to educate every student on racism and cultivate an atmosphere where they feel safe and heard. Only then will you be able to say you have fulfilled your duty as an educating body.

I had a variety of feelings about this letter. I was upset by the accusations because they did not comport with my memory of learning history in high school. I was annoyed at the contrived language which led to political posturing instead of logical reasoning. I questioned whether I was in the wrong and I had rose-tinted glasses on. Had the teachers that inspired my love for history left me more ignorant of history? I thought about letting it be and moving on, but in the end, I couldn’t. I was determined to discover if my school’s history classes, and possibly the teachers themselves, were inadequate at best and racist at worst.

So, I began reading. I found some books that I thought could help fill in the gaps in my understanding of history. Later on, I thought that a podcast would be a good way to get my thoughts out into the world and try to figure out if that letter was accurate. I even released some episodes, but life got in the way, so I stopped. I got a job, met my wife, moved several hours away, and started grad school. Three years on, I now have a child on the way (maybe born before this is released) and I finished grad school. I kept reading, but the more I read the more books were added to my list (just ask my wife). So, I decided to stop at about a book an episode and hope for the best. By this point, I had also feared that this topic would fade away and I needed to stop delaying. I was mistaken.

I learned recently that this topic still seems to be at the forefront of American culture. About a month ago, there was a news story that directly addressed my personal mission. Vice President Kamala Harris accused the Florida public school system of teaching that “slaves benefited from slavery.” This can be disregarded as a statement that is merely trying to achieve certain political ends. But, it has garnered a lot of interesting discussion into whether this statement is true, or at the very least, whether the curriculum downplays slavery.

The statement in the curriculum is as follows:

Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.

One could possibly read this as the slaves were graced with the ability to learn new skills from their masters. Or that their benevolent masters taught them skills that they could use on the plantation in some way. So, this could have been worded slightly more carefully, though it is also one sentence of a 200+ page curriculum. An important fact that seems to be ignored is that this statement is a clarification of the following guideline:

Examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation). 

 So the skills they developed are listed. By comparison, the AP African American History guidelines read:

In addition to agricultural work, enslaved people learned specialized trades and worked as painters, carpenters, tailors, musicians, and healers in the North and South. Once free, American Americans [sic] used these skills to provide for themselves and others.

So it is possible that more context could be added to that specific requirement. Such as stating that the personal benefit came after escaping slavery. Despite all of this, I personally read into this statement that slaves benefited from these skills despite being enslaved instead of because they were enslaved. One need not look past one of the most influential slaves and abolitionists, Frederick Douglass, to find this proposition in action.

Douglass became a highly skilled ship caulker in Baltimore while he was a slave. He used this skill to his benefit. He was often sought after for his work and was contracted throughout the city. He had to pay some wages to his master but received part of the total wage for himself. Douglass himself stated that losing most of his wage was an affront to his liberty. Slavery in its very nature takes away the benefit of these skills by not allowing the slaves to earn a living from them. This is a fundamental right that anyone ought to be allowed to do. But, Douglass also wrote in his memoir that, later, he was able to use his knowledge of sailing and shipbuilding to find his way to freedom. He wrote that “My knowledge of ships and sailor's talk came much to my assistance, for I knew a ship from stem to stern, and from keelson to cross-trees, and could talk sailor like an old salt.”

How could anyone argue that Frederick Douglass did not benefit from the skills he learned while he was a slave? He states it himself in his own words. He did not benefit because he was a slave but despite the fact. Obviously, Douglass is the exception, which is why the curriculum says “in some instances.” His ingenuity and courage should not be downplayed. It should be celebrated. He worked out a way to beat the brutal system he was the victim of and benefitted as a result of his own ingenuity¹.

These are the stories that are vital to history. Understanding historical events is important to gain an understanding of what happened that led us to where we are today. However, there is something missing when just looking at the dates. The gaps are filled in by including these individuals, the intrepid few that were able to make a mark on the history of this country, and their accomplishments despite the enormous deck stacked against them. When looking at history hundreds of years on it can be easy to see people, not as individuals, but as players in the grand play of American history. Therefore, it is vitally important to include all of it, no matter if it fits into a tightly formed narrative, or not. It is also important to include the intricacies of history. No matter who they make look righteous or wicked. We cannot curate the facts to serve a certain narrative. That is unjust and does a disservice to those being taught.

These are the types of issues that I will cover in this newsletter. The accusation leveled by the Vice President is just one of many. There seems to be a new school curriculum controversy every week. This issue is still prescient and will likely remain so for years to come. Therefore, with my goal to determine whether or not the history taught in American high schools is lacking, I hope that I can eventually address these accusations directly as they come up. This will involve me determining which events were overlooked, which were underdeveloped, and which were oversold. But, along the way, I hope to fill in those stories of humanity that have been forgotten. To give a voice to those who have long been voiceless. This won’t be easy, but in the end, I know it will be a worthwhile effort and give a much more comprehensive understanding of history. I will present the facts as I see them. No matter where they lead me.

1. For a more in-depth review of the curriculum and a discussion about the idea of agency versus victimization, which I will cover in the next essay, please check out the guest essay on Glenn Lowry’s Substack by Robert Cherry.