Chapter five from Whose America by Jonathan Zimmerman explains the many struggles African Americans had to go through (even after the Brown vs. Board of Education desicion) to have an accurate version of their history in schools text. Based on Zimmerman, black activist used three main arguments when demanding a place in the American history. First, a correct retailed of history in schools texts might help persuades whites to "revise their views on present-day quests for racial justice" (Zimmerman 113). Activists claimed that an acurate and truthful history was necessary to make whites awaken from the myth of stereotype Negro. Second, when the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, african american activists claimed that new books in schools were …show more content…
needed so they could make their goals real. But still, even when the law was passed, many whites felt that blacks should not have been depicted in books as their equals. The third and last argument concerned black phyques. Activists claimed that an inferior portreit of blacks in books might give children that idea of inferiority and separatness. For this they used many of the theories by Kenneth B. Clark. On a previous text also by Clark, we learned that many black children are very conscious of their race and inferiority from a very young age, to explain thsi he used a study where he gave white and blck dolls to black children and asked them which one they like the most and which one was the most beautiful. The answer to these questions were always the same; the white doll. "The fact that young Negro children would prefer to be white reflects their knowledge that society prefers white people... It is clear, therefore that the self-acceptance found so early in child's developing complex of racial ideas refelcts the awareness and acceptance of the prevailing racial attidtudes in his community"(Fraser 284). The integration of textbooks, as well as schools, was a rather difficult road and took a fair amount of time, although this depended on the state. Southnerer states, however, were tottaly against this integration, beacuse whites and black were not suppossed to mix neither in schools nor text illustrations. Furthermore, many southnnerer conservatives rejected books that provided an open window to difficulties and problems surrounding race. "As late as 1969 whites in Birmingham, Alabama blocked a textbook for alluring to the church bombing that killed four black girls in the city in May 1963"(Zimmerman 116). The truth is based on Zimmerman, that even as late as 1970 books that made references to racial violence, hostility and prejudices were often removed or blocked. I simply ask what were they learning? Because whatever books they used were not history at all, at least not an accurate history. In the North many of the claimed by criticts were based in class terms not racial ones.
One of the main arguments were that this new emphasis of race in textbooks might give antipatriotoic ideals to black children. Whites conservatives said that textbooks would "bias children of all colors against their own country"(Zimmerman 117). Zimmerman gives an excellent example of a cartoon where a parent compares the things he/she learned when he went to school, which were all good and perfect, to the things that his child was learning such as the Genocide, Washington being a slaveowner, slaves hating slavery etc. At the end he conlcuded, "No wonder my kid's not an American. They're teaching him some other country's history" (117). On the other hand, however, a parent from California said, "Of course we do have much of which we are not proud, but why put up our mistakes, downgrade our heroes and please our enemies?"(117-118). I think that by showing others, especially children, many of the error this country made throughout its building, is to provide them with the tools they need so that the mistakes we made in the past don't occurr in the future. After, all that's the reason history and the teaching of it exits; by learning about the past we can create a better future, thus a better
society.
It is a book that holds up to its weighty praise of being “the historical Bible of the civil rights movement.” The book is presented in a light that is free from petty bias and that is shaped by a clear point of view that considers all facts equally. It is a book that will remain one of the best explanations of this time period.
"Histories, like ancient ruins, are the fictions of empires. While everything forgotten hands in dark dreams of the past, ever threatening to return...”, a quote from the movie Velvet Goldmine, expresses the thoughts that many supporters of integration may have felt because no one truly knew the effects that one major verdict could create. The Brown v. Board of Education decision was a very important watershed during the Civil Rights Movement. However, like most progressive decisions, it did not create an effective solution because no time limit was ever given. James Baldwin realized that this major oversight would lead to a “broken promise.”
African American history plays a huge role in history today. From decades of research we can see the process that this culture went through and how they were depressed and deculturalized. In school, we take the time to learn about African American History but, we fail to see the aspects that African Americans had to overcome to be where they are today. We also fail to view life in their shoes and fundamentally understand the hardships and processes that they went through. African Americans were treated so terribly and poor in the last century and, they still are today. As a subordinate race to the American White race, African Americans were not treated equal, fair, human, or right under any circumstances. Being in the subordinate position African Americans are controlled by the higher white group in everything that they do.
History plays a tremendous role in the present-day. Awareness of one’s history aids in understanding the significance of its effects. The Brown v. Board of Education case is a landmark in the history of the United States society and the judiciary system. It drastically affected education systems, the civil rights movement, and is known as one of the first cases to acknowledge social science results. This Brown v. Board of Education case took place over sixty years ago, and its affects continues to influence many aspects of today’s society, and more specifically today’s education systems. Despite its numerous accolades, it is still argued that Brown v. Board of Education failed to successfully accomplish its goal of desegregating
“IT IS NO ACCIDENT that the pivotal Supreme Court decision launching the modern civil rights movement was an education case -- the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling. IN MANY WAYS, the drive to end segregated education and to put African American and white children in the same classrooms was the most radical and potentially far-reaching aspect of the civil rights movement” (ww.civil rights.com). And since this time the faces of the classroom have changed and been redefined. Students of all races, language backgrounds and learning abilities create a classroom of learners like never before. But, often the impact of the 1954 ruling was questioned because many wondered were all students in a better position now? It wasn’t until 2002 under NCLB that schools now mandated all schools must prove that infact all students were offered the same education. “Under the 2002 law, states are required to test students in reading and math in grades 3–8 and once in high school. All students are expected to meet or exceed state standards in reading and math by 2014” (www.k12.com). Unfortunately,
In 1954 through Brown V. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decided that forced segregation denied African Americans equal protection under the law as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment. Brown mandated equal access and opportunity. This decision created a wave of effects throughout the African American community. Unequal outcomes were fueled by low expectation and cultural incompatibilities along with the drainage of resources such as the removal of the best teachers through reassignment to desegregated schools or through firing (Green et al., 2005). Black students were also bused to predominately White schools disproportionately, causing many African American schools to close (Morris, 1999). Morris further state...
...ry kept black Americans in a state of oppression. Still, education was cherished as the way to get ahead. Today, a black is president of the United States and there are black politicians elected to the Congress and the Senate. Several Fortune 500 companies are headed by blacks. Admission to any college or university is open to black high school scholars. But now, getting good grades and an education is passé, construed as "acting white." It is as if black education rose from the ash heap of slavery and Jim Crow after the Civil War and, then, was pulled back down into a tar pit of welfare assistance and government dependency.
Paul E. Lovejoy realizes the importance of learning the history of a situation correctly and thoroughly. Lovejoy states (1997), “The failure to study enslaved Africans in the Americas from the perspective of African history is largely a result of the way in which African history developed as a sub-discipline” (p. 5). If African Americans points of view on their historical markers are not studied, that will cause a misrepresentation throughout history. During slavery, slaves were known to form communities composed of their homeland origins in order to keep their social identity (Lovejoy, 1997, p. 3). The Great Migration happened once millions of African Americans decided to leave the South in order to escape the oppressive laws and find better economic opportunities. The South was ruining their sense of social identity. Lovejoy also notes they would (1997), “…create a world that was largely autonomous from white, European society” (p 3). That shows African Americans were already capable of living in America without the need of white people. However, they were halted by unfair and evil treatments. After the Great Migration to the North, Midwest and West, they still faced those halts. The Civil Rights Movement sparked the acts of overcoming those problems. The oral history of those involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Congress of Racial
Although African Americans were finally able to gain back their freedom; they did not gain equality in the eyes of their former oppressors. Resentful of the newfound freedom of African Americans, laws known as Jim Crow laws were established throughout the United Stated by states and local governments. These discriminatory laws worked to systematically oppress African Americans through segregation and violence. They were segregated from whites; forbidden to attend the same schools, eat in the same restaurants or intermarry. African Americans were treated as second class citizens; lesser beings that had no rights. “Blacks could not vote, sue whites, testify against them, raise their voice to them or even look them in the eye or stay on the sidewalk if they passed.” (BL p.98) The era of Jim Crow was a dangerous time where even a glance was enough for an African American to be murdered. But there was only so much abuse that would be withstood. The winds of change were beginning to stir and African Americans and their supporters were beginning to demand their equality.
Education played a very important part in civil rights history. Much time and effort has been spent on education for the black community. It was only right and fair that all people regardless of skin color be granted an equal opportunity to earn a decent education. Protests and other events that took place on the campuses of educational institutions all over the United States have made national headlines. The issue of equality in regards to educational has remained at the vanguard of the civil rights movement long after these events took place. By taking a glance at the changes in education between the 1950s and
Other than Martin Luther King Jr. and his involvement in the civil rights movement, nobody covers the true history of black people. In the article ON THE ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH FOR LIFE: THE CREATION OF THE POST-RACIAL ERA the author speaks of how people should be taught more about the history of black people and how they effected america in a good way. “Many politicians and observers of racial issues have argued that current racial problems are largely caused or exacerbated by a general ignorance of black history among the American population, and that proper historical education can provide an antidote to current racial problems.” If we would teach our kids about the history of Black people, it could assist to solve the problems of civil rights. If the people of these movements knew the background of the problems maybe they would cease to cause problems themselves. In the article Deconstructing Black History Month: Three African American Boys’ Exploration of Identity, the author says that “teachers read books about famous African Americans to their students, recall the words, ‘I have a dream,’ and fulfill their responsibility to give a nod of recognition to the historic contributions of African Americans.” This sentence is saying that teachers go through the motions every month and do the simple stuff like the “I had a dream
This quote is symbolic of the expressed opinions and ideology of the founding fathers of America. History, especially the history of the American educational system, paints a contradictory portrait. Idealistic visions of equity and cultural integration are constantly bantered about; however, they are rarely implemented and materialized. All men are indeed created equal, but not all men are treated equally. For years, educators and society as a whole have performed a great disservice to minorities in the public school sector. If each student is of equal value, worth, and merit, then each student should have equal access and exposure to culturally reflective learning opportunities. In the past, minorities have had a muted voice because of the attitude of the majority. Maxine Greene summarizes a scene from E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, after which she poses questions that many minorities have no doubt asked silently or loud. “Why is he unseen? Why were there no Negroes, no immigrants? More than likely because of the condition of the minds of those in power, minds that bestowed upon many others the same invisibility that Ellison’s narrator encounters” (Greene,1995, p. 159). Multicultural education is needed because it seeks to eradicate “invisibility” and give voice, power, and validation to the contributions and achievements of people with varied hues, backgrounds, and experiences.
The stories in all the books are part of our history, all the books are available to people to read to learn more about the American history. The Civil rights room did not only have books about one or two people, the room was very diverse. Not all the books were written by one person there were many authors. The videos to were diverse, all kids of speeches, protests, and racial discrimination. Not only are the books about African Americans, there are also a lot of books about how all kinds of races treated African Americans, for example many books were about how the white treated the African Americans. Religion was a big thing for African American, they wanted to build their own church’s after the civil war. There were books about how women and men were treated back then, and how gender was an important thing back then. It was really hard for men to get their civil right, on the other hand women had no rights what’s so ever. It was really hard back then for women to have any rights, which was presented in lot of books in the civil rights room. Class back then was very important, because rich stayed rich and the poor stayed
It challenges America’s status quo by breaking the standards of American classroom traditions. Back in the days, the typical American classroom was taught by white women and white men, filled with white students. They all came from the same background, culture and economic status. There is no wrong in having people of the same culture, and race, come together in one classroom, but students and teachers do not gain as much opportunity or rich experience as they would if they were surrounded by diverse students and teachers.... ...
Massive protests against racial segregation and discrimination broke out in the southern United States that came to national attention during the middle of the 1950’s. This movement started in centuries-long attempts by African slaves to resist slavery. After the Civil War American slaves were given basic civil rights. However, even though these rights were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment they were not federally enforced. The struggle these African-Americans faced to have their rights ...