Black history is not taught well

Black history was never taught well in the U.S., and racist politicians are removing the little bit of curriculum we have. Attacking Kamala Harris for having a slave owning ancestor is evidence of this. Not only do a lot of Jamaicans have slave owning ancestors, but almost every African American has slave owners in their family tree. Genetic research found that almost all the European admixture in the African American community comes from pre-1865. How do we not know by now that enslaved Black women were raped?

 

Hence the rule in the USA that if the women was a slave then any kids she has will be slaves no matter who the father was. Also, the general rule of thumb was that pretty female slaves cost more and were more usually house slaves rather than field slaves.

 

I guess the conservatives are running out of things to attack her on.

 

Exactly. The child's slave status was based on their mother's status. If it had been based on their father's status, most of the "mulattoes" would have been freed, and the slave owners would lose free workers.

Enslaving your children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces/nephews, and cousins is diabolical, but that's how it was.

 

I have to assume that in general the slave babies were not really considered children of the slave owner. I mean I seriously doubt they were referred to as father or anything, nor helped raise their kids or anything.

 

Probably not the norm to call them sons and daughters, especially since the fathers were usually married. The mixed race slaves, however, were more likely to be house slaves instead of field slaves, and they were more likely to be taught to read.

 

A history lesson on slavery and race:
If any race of people should not have guilt about, it's the Caucasians they have done more to end slavery than any other race.
US black history is a part of our countries history that is though in classrooms.
What's important today is how it thought.
Is it presented in a way that is promoting racial hate, enabling conflict and the divide?
I think if anything schools are balancing and promoting inclusion like in no other time.

 

What?

 

If you're referring to Lerner's last post, I think this is what he meant.

He is not referring to the Republican states that are erasing Black history being taught in the schools.

 

While other groups have been involved in massive slave trades, especially the Arabs, Europeans should not get credit for ending the racist chattel slavery they invented. By the way, Arabs are Caucasian.

 

Yes, The U.S. census sees Middle Eastern and North African people as white. Many don't.
Arabs get discriminated, according to multiple surveys. No matter if Christian or Muslim. But that's another discussion.
Some Arabs from Egypt, for example, are of very dark skin and its confusing if they are labeled as Caucasian.
But this is another discussion.

 

Caucasian and White aren't exactly the same. White is a social/legal status that changes throughout time. Soon, North Africans and Middle Easterners will have their own category in the U.S. Caucasian is a designation based on old race science. If you go through old U.S. court cases, there have been groups that have been considered Caucasian but not White.

One can be Arab by culture or by genetics. Egyptians have a mixed heritage, and they are Arabized. Just about all Arab groups in Africa are actually other ethnic groups that were Arabized.

 

The last thing this country wants to face up to is our history of African chattel slavery. Us white folks really wish the whole subject would just GO AWAY because if we ever did face it honestly, there would be hell to pay. Financial, moral, and otherwise.

The United States was founded by colonies all of which were or had been slave owning societies. People from every corner of the land dealt in slaves and many old money fortunes were made in this heinous and horrible manner.

Even those Northern States that individually abolished slavery before the Civil War did so gradually enough to allow slave owners to sell their slaves South. Few useful slaves were actually freed. They were just relocated.

And so we whinge and cringe and cry when we can't somehow change the subject.

Teach Black History? No, we would rather cling to our lies and fables.

No, we DON'T teach Black History because it might hurt us whites too much. But Black Folk teach it. African Americans don't forget and they don't let their children forget.

 

What an abrasive topic to initiate a discussion on a platform dedicated to education, particularly when relying solely on anecdotal evidence. Would it not be more prudent to cite reputable sources or provide concrete data? This thread begs the question: Is the art of debate dead? One cannot help but wonder if the principles of constructive discourse have been forgotten in our current climate.

 

This would fall under common knowledge. Americans know that African Americans have European admixture. Did you not know that every tested African American has European admixture? You need a source for that? Do you need a source to tell you that water is wet or that the sky appears to be blue to the human eye?

 

Everything needs a source. Common knowledge are not facts. It was common knowledge that Rosa Park is the mother of the civil rights movement when in reality it can be traced to Ella Baker (Mueller, 2004; Payne 1989).

Mueller, C. (2004). Ella Baker and the origins of “participatory democracy”. In The black studies reader (pp. 91-102). Routledge.
Payne, C. (1989). Ella Baker and models of social change. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14(4), 885-899.

 

What you should have learned in your college courses is that common knowledge does not need a source, and this is social media, not a college course. If you don't know that African Americans have European admixture, then you're an example of poor K-12 education at wherever you attended school. I regularly source statistics that are not common knowledge, but I'm not getting paid to teach you things you should already know. You can google it.

 

No, it was not common knowledge that Rosa Parks was the mother of the Civil Rights Movement, and you're confusing common misconceptions with common knowledge. Common knowledge is a fact that is widely-known and does not need to be looked up i.e. chickens have feathers.

 

I can't believe that someone with a graduate degree needs to be educated on what common knowledge is. Are you American, @Xspect ? Maybe this isn't common knowledge for you because you're from a different country. On an education forum with highly-educated members mostly from the U.S. and Canada, African Americans having European admixture is common knowledge, meaning that it is a known fact that does not need a source.

https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/citing-your-sources/what-common-knowledge