By Anthony Crawford
After I was a junior in highschool, I used to be kicked out of sophistication for asking the instructor once we had been going to find out about Black historical past. It was Black Historical past Month.
I bear in mind it prefer it was yesterday. It was the primary week of February. Monday handed, no Black historical past. Tuesday, nonetheless no Black historical past. On Wednesday, I lastly spoke up. I requested the instructor, “When are you going to show us about Black historical past? Are you going to show us something about Black folks?” He turned purple and mentioned, “I cannot take care of this in my classroom,” and requested me to depart. So I tossed my textbook on the bottom and walked out of sophistication.
Rising up, I discovered lots of European historical past in class, like Shakespeare or Victorian literature. I had a sixth-grade instructor who was and taught us about Black historical past — however apart from that, I actually don’t bear in mind studying something about Black historical past in my Ok-12 schooling.
In the present day, it’s not that completely different. Loads of my college students had been by no means taught any Black historical past till my class. They’re studying about issues just like the Harlem Renaissance and Reconstruction for the primary time — as juniors and seniors in highschool. In a means, I can perceive why. Black historical past is graphic and violent, and we don’t wish to traumatize our college students. However with a view to break these obstacles, we first have to speak 
about it.
Black historical past is necessary for all college students as a result of a lot of the issues that occurred in historical past are nonetheless occurring as we speak. We consider slavery as a factor of the previous, however mass incarceration and its gateway, the varsity to jail pipeline, are the brand new slavery. I train my college students about these points as a result of It helps them perceive what sort of society they dwell in and the way this actuality got here into being.
It’s particularly necessary for Black college students: With out understanding what occurred and remains to be occurring to their folks, they gained’t know the way to maneuver in society as soon as they step out of my classroom and into the actual world. It’s like going into a fireplace not figuring out that you simply’ll get burned. I wish to put together them for the cruel realities that they’re going to face day by day as they turn out to be adults.
Already, I can see the affect on my college students after they’re launched to those topics. They begin studying the way to assume critically and debate with one another. Their mother and father will name me and say how a lot they recognize it as a result of they didn’t know the way to introduce a few of these concepts to their children, or when was an acceptable time. Black historical past is difficult to speak about, however studying about it builds my college students’ confidence and empowers them to take life into their very own palms.
Proper now, it’s much more necessary to have these conversations due to the present debate about educating “important race concept” in colleges. Oklahoma, the place I dwell, is one in all 9 states that handed classroom censorship payments final yr that attempt to silence conversations about race and gender. I’ve chosen to defy the regulation and haven’t altered my educating, however I do know lots of lecturers who’re afraid to speak about these points as a result of they may lose their educating licenses if somebody complains and they’re discovered to be in violation of this complicated and overbroad statute. There’s lots of misinformation on the market about educating race within the classroom, and I hope it doesn’t stop extra college students from getting an actual and inclusive schooling — particularly throughout Black historical past month.
Anthony Crawford is a Trainer at Millwood Excessive Faculty. Article printed by ACLU.
