Whenever I tell high school students in classes I visit that I appreciated learning slavery as a child growing up in the Caribbean, they often look confused.
Why, they ask, did I like learning slavery given that it was so horrible and harsh? How could I value being taught something that caused so much hurt and harm?
The holiday – and the lessons I learned it – instilled in me a sense of cultural pride and gave me a better appreciation for the sacrifices that Black made for freedom. It also encouraged me to always push on when faced with challenges.
The reason I bring this up is because I believe Juneteenth – which commemorates the date in 1865 when Union troops notified the last remaining slaves in Texas that they were free – holds similar promise for Black students throughout the United States.
Students often tell me that they’re not learning much slavery beyond the suffering and harsh conditions that it involved. As a historian who specializes in how slavery is taught in K-12 classrooms, I believe there are several ways educators can incorporate Juneteenth into their instruction that will give students a broader understanding of how Black resisted slavery and persevered in spite of it. Below are just a few.
As early childhood experts assembled by the National Museum of African American History point out in a guide they created to help develop lessons Juneteenth, children in the U.S. will probably hear slavery by age 5. But lessons slavery at that age should avoid the pain and trauma of slavery. Instead, the lessons should celebrate and teach stories of Black culture, leadership, inventions, beauty and accomplishments. This, the authors of the guide say, will better equip children to later hear , understand and emotionally process the terrible truths slavery.
“Juneteenth events can be wonderful opportunities to introduce the concepts of slavery with a focus on resilience and within an environment of love, trust, and joy,” the guide states.
Many Juneteeth celebrations not only commemorate the end of slavery, but they also honor the generations of Black men and women who have fought to end slavery and for racial justice. As Black history education professor LaGarett King puts it, Black have always “acted, made their own decisions based on their interests, and fought back against oppressive structures.” Stressing this can help students to see that although Black were victimized by slavery, they were not just helpless victims.
Juneteenth provides opportunities to acknowledge and examine the legacies of Black freedom fighters during the time of slavery. These freedom fighters include – but are not necessarily limited to – Frederick Douglass, Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner and Sojourner Truth.
Juneteenth can also be a way for educators to help students better understand contemporary demands for racial justice. That’s what George Patterson, a former Brooklyn middle school principal, did a few years back at the height of protests that took place under the mantra of Black Lives Matter.
Patterson has said he believes that when students study Juneteenth, they are “better equipped to understand the historical underpinnings of what’s going on in the streets and to put the demands being made in context.”
Teachers need not wait for Juneteenth to be included in textbooks in order to draw lessons from the holiday.
“If it’s not in the textbook, then we need to introduce it, we need to teach it,” Odessa Pickett, a teacher at the Barack Obama Learning Academy in Markham, Illinois, stated during an interview teachers infusing Juneteenth into their lessons. “We need to bring it to the forefront.”
Educators can make Juneteenth so much more than the end of slavery. Teaching lessons the holiday offers an abundance of opportunities what it means to fight for freedom and maintain a sense of self-determination in the face of oppression.
Raphael E. Rogers, Professor of Practice in Education, Clark University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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by Raphael E. Rogers, Ohio Capital Journal June 19, 2024
by Raphael E. Rogers, Ohio Capital Journal June 19, 2024
Whenever I tell high school students in classes I visit that I appreciated learning slavery as a child growing up in the Caribbean, they often look confused.
Why, they ask, did I like learning slavery given that it was so horrible and harsh? How could I value being taught something that caused so much hurt and harm?
The holiday – and the lessons I learned it – instilled in me a sense of cultural pride and gave me a better appreciation for the sacrifices that Black made for freedom. It also encouraged me to always push on when faced with challenges.
The reason I bring this up is because I believe Juneteenth – which commemorates the date in 1865 when Union troops notified the last remaining slaves in Texas that they were free – holds similar promise for Black students throughout the United States.
Students often tell me that they’re not learning much slavery beyond the suffering and harsh conditions that it involved. As a historian who specializes in how slavery is taught in K-12 classrooms, I believe there are several ways educators can incorporate Juneteenth into their instruction that will give students a broader understanding of how Black resisted slavery and persevered in spite of it. Below are just a few.
As early childhood experts assembled by the National Museum of African American History point out in a guide they created to help develop lessons Juneteenth, children in the U.S. will probably hear slavery by age 5. But lessons slavery at that age should avoid the pain and trauma of slavery. Instead, the lessons should celebrate and teach stories of Black culture, leadership, inventions, beauty and accomplishments. This, the authors of the guide say, will better equip children to later hear , understand and emotionally process the terrible truths slavery.
“Juneteenth events can be wonderful opportunities to introduce the concepts of slavery with a focus on resilience and within an environment of love, trust, and joy,” the guide states.
Many Juneteeth celebrations not only commemorate the end of slavery, but they also honor the generations of Black men and women who have fought to end slavery and for racial justice. As Black history education professor LaGarett King puts it, Black have always “acted, made their own decisions based on their interests, and fought back against oppressive structures.” Stressing this can help students to see that although Black were victimized by slavery, they were not just helpless victims.
Juneteenth provides opportunities to acknowledge and examine the legacies of Black freedom fighters during the time of slavery. These freedom fighters include – but are not necessarily limited to – Frederick Douglass, Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner and Sojourner Truth.
Juneteenth can also be a way for educators to help students better understand contemporary demands for racial justice. That’s what George Patterson, a former Brooklyn middle school principal, did a few years back at the height of protests that took place under the mantra of Black Lives Matter.
Patterson has said he believes that when students study Juneteenth, they are “better equipped to understand the historical underpinnings of what’s going on in the streets and to put the demands being made in context.”
Teachers need not wait for Juneteenth to be included in textbooks in order to draw lessons from the holiday.
“If it’s not in the textbook, then we need to introduce it, we need to teach it,” Odessa Pickett, a teacher at the Barack Obama Learning Academy in Markham, Illinois, stated during an interview teachers infusing Juneteenth into their lessons. “We need to bring it to the forefront.”
Educators can make Juneteenth so much more than the end of slavery. Teaching lessons the holiday offers an abundance of opportunities what it means to fight for freedom and maintain a sense of self-determination in the face of oppression.
Raphael E. Rogers, Professor of Practice in Education, Clark University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Raphael E. Rogers is a Professor of Practice in Education at Clark University.
