Lies My Teacher Told Me- Ch 5

Racism is an obsession throughout American history. As stated in this book, it has been a factor since the first Spaniards colonized in North Carolina. All textbooks that I have encountered have always portrayed slavery as an evil that these settlers, and later plantation owners, endorsed and took advantage of. I think that it is important to show students, not that slavery was a good thing (because it certainly is not), but why these slave owners did it. It is important to show students how this helped them and why it has been so hard to break away from slavery.

Moving forward in time, we come to the time period of Civil Rights and all of the issues that arose during this. Again, I do not endorse what happened to victims during this time, but it is important as a teacher to show why incidents such as the various race riots and beatings occurred. This is a good way to start a discussion in class. You can ask why you think whites acted in hostile ways towards African- Americans? You can also talk about why they did not go with more peaceful solutions. This forces students to critically think about it.

Big question: How can you effectively show each side of the argument on racism while staying accurate and appropriate, especially when teaching in an urban area?

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