Edutopia – Rann Miller
“As Black History Month kicked off, I was reflecting on my time as a student. My experience all those years ago was similar to that of most black children today: mostly white teachers teaching black history primarily in February. I was told of Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass. I heard very little of Malcolm X, the FBI’s campaign against civil rights leaders, the Rainbow Coalition put together by the Black Panther Party’s Fred Hampton, or Hampton’s assassination. I learned about the struggles of my enslaved ancestors, but not about Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, or Nat Turner. I was taught about the marches and firehoses in Alabama, but I had to teach myself about the acts of terrorism committed against black people in Rosewood, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Wilmington, North Carolina.” (more)