The emphasis on black slavery, and its effect on mental images Options

[sadolakced acid]

from elementary school (in america), children are often introduced to the enslavement of africans, and the resulting civil war. It comes up quite a bit in the south. the expectation is, most likely, that children will learn that slavery was wrong and history will not repeat itself.

however; observation of america right now reveals that most americans do not learn from history.

however, once into higher education, it seems these fewer americans do learn from history. good thing too, because they'll (hopefully) be running the country.

but then, what's the problem with teaching kiddies about slavery, you ask.

the problem is an incomplete explination.

what introducing children to the enslavement of africans does is, yes, teach children about slavery and how it is wrong.

however, it also creates the idea in children's minds as slaves as black, always in history.

therefore; when these children hear about spartacus, they will envision a black man leading a slave revolt of other blacks against thier white enslavers.

when they hear that aesop was a slave, they will envision a black man writing down stories of tortosise and hares.

what this does is create the idea in children that a slave is black.

sure, people who choose to go on and learn more will learn differently. However, this is simply because they have overcome thier old (accidental) indotrination.

however, those who choose not to learn more, will forever have the image of a slave as a black person.

this increases the likelyhood that these people will believe blacks as inferior in some way.

which, opposite to the original purpose, would make future enslavement of blacks easier, not harder, to do.

[yummy_delight]

this increases the likelyhood that these people will believe blacks as inferior in some way.

which, opposite to the original purpose, would make future enslavement of blacks easier, not harder, to do.

I disagree. Living in America, we have a duty to teach students the history of the United States, including slavery. Of course we're going to put an emphasis on BLACK slavery because Africans were basically the entire slave population before the civil war. We can't try to downplay the issue of black slavery in America just to try and teach the kids that OTHER people besides Africans get enslaved, too. We can't just skim over it and focus more on slavery by the ancient Romans. Of course the slavery of other countries should be and already is taught in schools. But, we are in the United States, and as such, are taught more American history more than anything else.

By learning about the history of slavery and civil rights in America, we're not teaching students to look down on African Americans. I've been taught about it and I definitely don't feel that way. Neither do any of my classmates. The ignorants and racists who think blacks are inferior felt this way even BEFORE they were taught about slavery. It was an idea that was instilled in them by their parents not from history. The best we can do is keep teaching about slavery and make absolutely clear how wrong it is.