In my 11th grade history class, my teacher required us to read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Ever since then, civil rights has been at the top of my things-I-am-passionate-about list (right above checking the mail...). Last Spring I had to write a persuasive essay for an English class I was taking at USU. I just found it on my computer... and I think maybe some one out there has a passion for civil rights, too?...
A Call to Action
The difference between having a dream and actually making it come true is monumental. Author, Sarah Ban Breathnach, once said, “The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do” (17). Martin Luther King Jr. was such a person. On August 28, 1963, King shared his powerful address, entitled I Have a Dream, with the American people. This monumental declaration expressed his concerns about racial equality in our nation. Dr. King began his address with words I will never forget:
“Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” (1)
The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, in 1863, gave such hope to all African Americans – hope for actual freedom and equality. Sadly, this hope came to naught. It was one hundred years until that flame of hope was rekindled. In 1963, King called America to action: “Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood” (1). It has been forty-eight years since King acted on his dream, and now we must follow in his footsteps. There has been much flippancy in Utah’s public education system concerning the history of African Americans in our country. This lack of education has lead to egalitarian views of blacks as victims to America’s white supremacy ways, and a serious down play on stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination within our state today. Elementary and junior high history teachers in the state of Utah should be required to enforce a curriculum which allots a specific amount of class time to teaching and learning about civil rights in the past and present times of our country. Students should understand the problems and consequences surrounding slavery and discrimination by the time they enter high school. Doing this will allow students to be better prepared to face and end prejudice at the socially fragile time that is high school, and in the future.
The levity with which slavery is being taught in public education history classes in Utah is a serious downfall in this state’s prestige. To demonstrate this, what follows will look into the life of a common slave, the shady dealings of the Ku Klux Klan and the discriminating symbols the KKK used to persecute African Americans, and a close-to-home example of this lack of education.
Slavery began in 1619 when a Dutch ship traded its African American “cargo” for food in Jamestown, Virginia (Balls 2). It was more than two hundred years until President Abraham Lincoln attempted to end slavery by signing the Emancipation Proclamation; however, even the public signing of this bill did little to enforce racial equality throughout America. In 1949, Fountain Hughes, a former slave, was interviewed by Herman Norwood of the Library of Congress. This was Hughes reply when asked who he worked for when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed: “We had no home, you know. We was just turned out like a lot of cattle. You know how they turn cattle out in a pasture? Well, after freedom, you know, colored people didn't have nothing” (Norwood 2). When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, slaves were legally free; but what good is freedom when you have nothing. At the end of the interview conducted by the Library of Congress, Herman Norwood asks Fountain Hughes what he would do if he was told that he had to be a slave again. Hughes reply is heart-breaking, “If I thought… had any idea that I'd ever be a slave again, I'd take a gun and just end it all right away! Because you're nothing but a dog. You're not a thing but a dog” (Norwood 6). Not only did the newly freed slaves have to start their lives completely over, but they also had to do it while dealing with the persecution coming from white supremacy groups.
One such group, known as the Ku Klux Klan, formed in 1866 – only three years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed (Simkin 1). Members of the KKK would dress in all white – from head to toe, including white hoods over their faces. The sole purpose of the Ku Klux Klan was to persecute and destroy the lives of former slaves. President Ulysses S. Grant was urged to take action against this white supremacy group. In 1871, a year after President Grant instigated an investigation, a Grand Jury reported, “The Klan is inflicting vengeance on the colored citizens by breaking into their houses at the dead of night, dragging them from their beds, torturing them in the most inhuman manner, and in many instances committing murder” (Simkin 1). After this investigation and throughout the next one hundred years, the KKK was repeatedly shut down. Shortly after King’s address in 1963, the KKK made another comeback. This time around, they became known for burning crosses on the property of black citizens. The idea to burn crosses came from Medieval Europe. Brendan I. Koerner wrote an article about why the KKK started burning crosses that was published in Slate Magazine. Koerner states that, “Scottish clans set hillside crosses ablaze as symbols of defiance against military rivals or to rally troops when a battle was imminent”. He went on to say the KKK took the idea of burning crosses and adapted it to their own situation, “Klansmen started burning crosses to intimidate minorities” (Koerner 1). On April 1, 2011, an article that was published in the Deseret News reported that three Alta High School students had been cited for sending pictures of burning crosses to each other via text message. The article also stated the school was already under investigation because of an incident earlier in the week in which a student was, “wearing a white pillowcase on his head that resembled a Ku Klux Klan hood during a spirit assembly” (Reavy 1). Recently, I had the opportunity to talk to a local high school history teacher about this topic. Concerning the incident at Alta High she said, “I asked my students if they knew why the person wearing the white pillow case over their head in the assembly was in trouble. Some of them had no idea”.
We owe it to future generations to teach them everything that happened in the dark and blood-stained past of our country. We cannot spare any detail of the torturous times of slavery or any memory of bigotry of which we are not proud. We owe rising generations knowledge of the past in order to build a better future.
Egalitarianism is a phrase that is becoming more and more common. According author Gary Hull, “An egalitarian wants equality, not under the law, but in all practical consequences: equality of income, of praise and blame, of rewards and punishments. He derides, as "elitist" and individualistic, all rankings, evaluations, competitions” (1). Richard Rodzinski, executive director of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition said, “We must stamp out the concept of ‘better’. It should always be understood that we're not saying number one is better than number two” (1). The question is then raised: Are egalitarians correct for seeing African Americans as victims of white supremacy? The answer is no. According to Junius P. Rodriguez, author and editor of Slavery in the United States: a Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia, “…there were no biblical injunctions against slavery and the practice seemed to be sanctioned by scripture. In addition, those who avowed an antislavery perspective had to denounce as wrong the thousands of years of human history, custom, and tradition that suggested slavery to be a normal practice of peoples worldwide” (93). In other words, whites weren’t enslaving African Americans because they thought themselves superior; they were doing it because they had no moral injunction against it – they didn’t think it was wrong. As slavery continued abolitionists were able to stir things up enough to fuel the Civil War. This is when people should have begun to realize treating other humans as animals – just because they were a minority – definitely was not sanction in the bible. The fact that a war was required to end slavery in America says a lot about the condition of our country. Educating young students in Utah about slavery must be a careful balancing act. Utah classrooms are a mix of many races. Because of this, history teachers cannot make blacks look like victims, nor can they make whites look like heroes. Teachers must draw the line between ignorance and pure discrimination based on race.
Alexis Herman, the 23rd United States Secretary of Labor said, “Education is important because, first of all, people need to know that discrimination still exists” (2). According to the lecture notes of Tamara J Ferguson, a professor of social psychology at Utah State University, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination is a three-step process. Ferguson’s definition of the three states that, “Stereotypes involve generalizations about the ‘typical’ characteristics of the group; prejudice is an attitude toward the members of some group based solely on their membership in that group; discrimination is actual positive or negative actions toward the objects of prejudice” (1). These definitions basically reveal a stereotype is a thought, prejudice is an attitude based on that thought, and discrimination is an action based on that attitude. With that being said, on November 1, 2010, a study about stereotypical thinking was published on sciencedaily.com. The study was conducted by the University of Missouri and proves people who are not “trained to think in opposition to stereotypes” (1) have increased heart-rate when a commercial comes on the television featuring a black actor. Physiologically, an increased heart-rate means decreased attention levels (UMC 1). The article goes on to say people need to be trained not to think stereotypically. A second portion of this study was conducted with people whom the University had trained to avoid stereotypes. When the physiological responses of the trained individuals were recorded while watching a black actor in a commercial, it was said their heart-rate decreased, which means they showed an increase in attention (UMC 1). Stereotypical thinking is what leads to prejudice and discrimination. Stopping people from thinking stereotypically would end prejudice and discrimination as well.
The book African American Psychology: from Africa to America talks about a different study which centers on the amygdala, an area of the brain concerned with emotional responses. The study reports when black and white people were shown pictures of black and white people, activity in the amygdala declined more for in-group faces than out-group faces. “This was seen as an indicator of heightened habituation toward in-group faces” (Belgrave 118). Basically, this study suggests white people prefer white people, and black people prefer black people. What these two studies show is America is still crippled by stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. We continually fall into the same pattern that the American society has been following for years. Gary Feuerberg, a member of the Epoch Times Washington, D.C. Staff, wrote an article entitled, “Combating Racial Discrimination in the 21st Century”. In the article, Feuerberg reports, “In fiscal year 2006, more than 27,000 charges of racial discrimination were filed with the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) offices nationwide” (1). It is as if the color of our skin somehow makes us a different species from one another. Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to serve in the United States Congress, once stated, “In the end anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing – anti-humanism”. By properly educating elementary and junior high students in Utah about slavery, we will be training them to avoid stereotypes before they enter high school – a socially critical time in their lives; we will be ridding them of the “antihuman” thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors blockading the moral progression of the state.
The solution being suggested here is to rebuild and implement the history curriculum for grades kindergarten through ninth. Some might argue properly educating our children is not worth the amount it would cost to change the curriculum and retrain all the teachers. Others might say changing the curriculum to allow for a more proper and thorough history of slavery will take away from other important historical events. Although both those arguments are valid, they are missing the bigger picture. When we talk about educating our children, we are talking about educating the future leaders of our state and country. The future of our country deserves first-rate leaders, and those leaders deserve a first-rate education – no matter the cost. As for the second concern, implementing a new curriculum would not mean other important historical events would be taken out entirely; it simply means history teachers would adjust the timing of their lessons. For example, instead of spending an entire week teaching about World War II, the curriculum would be amended so World War II is only taught for three days which would allow for a more detailed history of slavery. That way, it is a win-win scenario for all historical events.
As demonstrated by the evidence found in this essay, creating and implementing a new curriculum will be beneficial for today’s students and for the future. By learning more about the history and consequences of slavery and discrimination, Utah’s children will know white supremacy was not the driving force behind slavery when it first started; that blacks were not victims to white domination. By teaching our children about prejudice and discrimination in the past, they will be better prepared to end prejudice and discrimination today and in the future.
Works Cited
Balls, Edward K. "Chronology on the History of Slavery 1619 to 1789." Columbia Heights Welcome Page. 1999. Web. 30 Mar. 2011 <http://innercity.org/holt/slavechron.html>.
Ban, Breathnach Sarah. Simple Abundance: a Daybook of Comfort and Joy. New York: Warner, 1995. Print.
Belgrave, Faye Z., and Kevin W. Allison. African American Psychology: from Africa to America. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2009. Print.
Ferguson, Tamara J. "Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination." Welcome to Utah State University. 2004. 19 Apr. 2011 <http://www.usu.edu/psy3510/prejudice.html>.
Feuerberg, Gary. "The Epoch Times | Combating Racial Discrimination in the 21st Century." Epoch Times | National, World, China, Sports, Entertainment News | Epoch Times. 5 Mar. 2007. 19 Apr. 2011 <http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-3-5/52428.html>.
Hancey, Tracy. Personal Interview. 03 Apr. 2011.
Hull, Gary. "Capitalism Magazine - Egalitarianism: The New Torture Rack." Capitalism Magazine. Ayn Rand Institue, 11 Jan. 2004. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. <http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/culture/diversity/3417-egalitarianism-the-new-torture-rack.html>.
King Jr., Martin Luther. I Have a Dream. Washington DC, 1963. Print
Koerner, Brendan I. "Why Does the Ku Klux Klan Burn Crosses? - By Brendan I. Koerner." Slate Magazine. 17 Dec. 2002. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. <http://www.slate.com/id/2075584/>.
Miller, Robert G. "U.S. Secretary Of Labor, Alexis M. Herman Explores Future Changes In America's Workforce." THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online: The Career Site for African-American College Students. 2005. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://www.black-collegian.com/issues/1999-08/herman.shtml>.
Norwood, Herman, comp. Voices From the Days of Slavery: Stories, Songs, and Memories - Fountain Hughes. Washington DC: Library of Congress, 1949. Print
Reavy, Pat. "3 Alta High Students Cited in Unlawful Acts at School amid Racial Controversy." Deseret News Online. Deseret News, 1 Apr. 2011. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. <http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705369765/3-Alta-High-students-cited-in-unlawful-acts-at-school-amid-racial-controversy.html>.
Rodriguez, Junius P. Slavery in the United States: a Social, Political, and Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2007. Print.
Rodzinski, Richard. Personal Quotation. Web. 30 Apr. 2011.
Simkin, John. "Ku Klux Klan." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 03 Apr. 2011. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkkk.htm>.
University of Missouri-Columbia. "'Training away stereotypes': People trained to think in opposition to stereotypes are more receptive to advertising starring minority actors." ScienceDaily 1 November 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2011<http://www.sciencedaily.com>
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