History Unheard

Throughout the entire first half of this semester we have so often talked about the history that ha not been recognized or heard because of white washing. We have touched on the white narrative and how that has become the narrative we all grew up learning about our country. We have had outside speakers come in and educate us on the narrative that has been ignored and the people who have been left out but I often wonder what we are doing now to fix this and are children in schools still learning the exact same things we learned ten and twenty years ago.

In examining how we have learned about the Civil Rights Movement, I had not learned about Ida B. Wells, Diane Nash, or the many cases where black people sued schools for not accepting them because of the color of their skin. What I do remember learning about was John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Lyndon B. Johnson. All men and all considered the front-runners of this movement. It is important, however, to recognize those who came before them and those who came after especially at this point in our history where we are again questioning race. The Black Lives Matter movement has taken such a prominent role in our questions about race and how race plays an integral role in society. I wonder how children in middle and high school are being taught about this movement or even if they are being taught this movement. For so many of them, this is a modern day iteration of the Civil Rights Movement but I think too often educators are ignoring it.

While learning our history is important, learning it in a correct fashion is perhaps more important. I have begun to more deeply understand the intersectionality that was at play long before the ways we have began to understand it now. Ida B. Wells was certainly an example of intersectionality- her gender, class, and race all played an integral part in how she understood herself and what she believed in. She did not write anti-lynching laws simply for her race but she understood that as a woman, it was important for her to share her voice with the world. She had a talent that she could not ignore and put that on display for the country. Civil Rights is indeed more than just race and a few key players and I hope to become a part of a society that educates and understands that.