KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the country celebrates Black History Month, a troubling report reveals schools nationwide are failing to teach students about slavery and black history.
Locally, FOX4’s Sharifa Jackson found some school districts are setting the standard and receiving high marks for initiatives to teach these tough topics.
The Southern Poverty Law Center didn’t mince words in its 2018 report, saying: “Schools are not adequately teaching the history of American slavery.”
FOX4 found students who are learning those lessons, and not just students at the African-Centered College Preparatory Academy. The Park Hill School District now offers and elective on black history, as does the Olathe School District, which opened classroom doors for its American Black Studies class.
The journey of black people in America began 400 years ago with the arrival of slaves from West Africa. Centuries later, most schools nationally fail to teach the truths of slavery in America.
“The only time we had mentioned Africa or black Americans, it was briefly when we talked about the Civil Rights movement, and colonialism. That`s it,” said Stacy Mwachia, a sophomore at Olathe North High School.
“We kind of glazed over it to say if we were talking about the war, we would talk about how African-Americans impacted the war, but never really about more about how it affected them, or who they were,” said Samantha Macharia, a junior at Olathe North.
Mwachia and Macharia are now part of a Black American Studies class. They’re unearthing hidden parts of black history, that students say they haven’t learned before.
“It feels really good, because it feels like I`m getting more complete education, now that it`s not just parts of the world that people think are important. It`s all parts of the world,” Mwachia said.
Students themselves came up with the class, which the district accepted, and most of all, supported.
“It became a big conversation that actually went from the classroom, to the hallways, to other classrooms, to the commons area to homes,” said Philip Simons, Black American Studies teacher.
Now in its second year, the class is an elective at three Olathe high schools. Simons, one of the Black American Studies teachers, says it will be offered at all five next year.
“I had 36 kids my first time teaching this. I had 20 the next time; I currently have 27. I have another whole list next year of the kids coming to take it,” Simons said.
Students told him they didn’t see themselves in the history classes they`d taken. Those concerns were echoed in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s report. It’s shocking find: Only 8% of high school seniors surveyed knew slavery was the cause of the Civil War.
“The lack of knowledge about slavery, it really influences the ways we see the contemporary and the ways in which we see black people,” said LaGarrett King, an associate professor at the University of Missouri.
The report found that popular textbooks fail to provide comprehensive coverage of slavery and enslaved people, and state standards for teaching black history are weak.
“The findings are very important, so we can really understand how policy makers can do a better job helping us expand how we teach social studies and history. It will hopefully help the textbook companies work with school districts and work with policy makers to create resources readily available for teachers to promote aspects,” King said.
But the question remains: Why is slavery and black American history so difficult to teach?
“It’s hard as a white teacher to do that, but a majority of our teachers are white and female, so we have to have conversations about race in the classroom. We have to. If we don’t do it, our students are losing out,” said Toni Dringman, a history teacher at Olathe East High School.
Dringman teaches Black American Studies and said these are lessons students actually want to learn.
“The kids want it. Kids of all colors want classes like this. I’m hoping their voice will be the change. I think if they demand it, it will happen,” Dringman said.
Bright students like Macharia, who says the class opened her eyes to new African-American heroes.
“I got into poetry because we learned about Maya Angelou,” she said.
And students like Mwachia, who said the class taught her to be more understanding of others who don’t know as much about black history.
“I feel like people are misinformed about the history of it, and they are just ignorant to the facts, so whenever you are ignorant to the facts, you just fill in the blanks to whatever prejudices you already have, so they are not getting the full picture,” she said.
Both students hope this class will be a requirement someday so all students get the full picture of African-American history.
FOX4 reached out to lawmakers on both sides of the state line about possible legislation to make black history a mandatory part of the schools’ curriculum.
Missouri Rep. Tommie Pierson Jr. said: “I am interested in crafting and filing legislation (perhaps during Black History Month) to ensure that black history is not forgotten in Missouri.”
Kansas Rep. Valdenia Winn said she has legislation drafted, but no plans to introduce this year. She said she will continue to fight for this mission.
Test your knowledge: Student survey questions on American slavery
