Critical Race Facts: Ten Historical Events Schools Rarely Teach
What They Don’t Want You to Know
The Black Codes
Most people, Black or white, have at least heard of Jim Crow. Jim Crow legalized segregation and racism and is generally thought to have existed between 1877 and the mid-1960s and the Civil Rights movement. People don’t typically consider that the Civil War ended in 1865, and there was a twelve-year gap between the granting of freedom and the beginning of Jim Crow. Some can accurately place the Reconstruction era within that timeframe, knowing for a brief moment there were Black elected officials, including some statewide in Mississippi and South Carolina. What most people are unaware of is the Black Codes. They are rarely taught in schools and were an attempt by Southern states to duplicate slavery immediately after the Civil War.
The Black Codes were implemented state by state to do something about the newly freed enslaved people who, in some locations, outnumbered white people. In many cases, they sent Black people who ran afoul of the Black Codes back to the very plantations from whence they came. It was illegal for Black people to be unemployed or to congregate in groups of three or more. Black people could be taxed for working in any other occupation than a farmer or servant. If you quit a job mid-year, you were subject to arrest. The implementation of Black Codes coincided with the founding and rise of the Klan. People don’t generally know about the Black Codes, and they should be taught.
Affirmative Action
The messaging about Affirmative Action is that it gave” free stuff” to people who weren’t qualified or otherwise entitled to it. It took something from deserving white people and gave it to minorities. That message is part of a constant drumbeat, and nobody is being taught otherwise.
The message about Affirmative Action should be that it was an attempt to correct a condition where the federal government, state and local governments, government contractors, major corporations, and small businesses all had a long record of discriminating in contracting and employment with minorities (and women). Women were added as an afterthought but became one of the most significant ways to cheat the system by employing wives, friends, and family members to keep most of the money in the same pot.
I would submit that Affirmative Action Did Not open things up in an equitable way. It set a minimum that became a cap. If a government contract required 15% minority participation, the result was 15% participation, though minorities represented a much more significant percentage of the population. Affirmative Action never gave away free stuff, nor was it a panacea that brought equality to America.
Breeding of Enslaved People
I understand it would be uncomfortable addressing this topic, or concerned that children of any age might learn it. Yet, this is American history, and it goes back to the Constitution of the United States. That document, the foundation of all our laws, is a compromise between states that wanted slavery and others that didn’t. Article One, Section Nine, Clause One, was a promise that the International Slave Trade wouldn’t end for at least twenty years. South Carolina and other states needed that guarantee because they depended on the import of enslaved Africans. Little did they know that Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and others planned to rid themselves of the International Slave Trade to increase the demand for domestic-bred enslaved people.
On the first day available, Thomas Jefferson, a Virginia plantation owner, got rid of the International Slave Trade, which made him and others richer men. To meet the demand for enslaved people, alleged by some historians to be a coincidental” natural increase” among births of enslaved people, enslaved people born in some states, in particular, continued a pattern of a dramatic increase. This wasn’t by accident; it was due to the forced mating and rape of enslaved women to make sure enough enslaved people were on hand to sell further South. This might make children feel bad; refusing to teach history isn’t the answer.
Fair Housing
Some Americans are familiar with the Fair Housing Act of 1968. It allegedly corrected the ills that existed before it, such as redlining, steering, and equality in lending terms. What it didn’t address is that Veterans and minorities, in general, missed out on one of the most significant factors that created the middle class.
VA and FHA loans provided an opportunity for people to acquire homes, which are generally the biggest source of wealth Americans have. Imagine, if you will, that Black Americans weren’t able to get FHA and VA loans based solely on their color. Project the impact those restrictions, which were in place for decades, would have on multiple future generations. This is the kind of information that needs to be known to appreciate any current attempts to address historical wrongs.
Voter Suppression
The last time a white person told me there was no such thing as voter suppression was this morning. They may recognize that voter suppression was once a thing, but they think it went away with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 or some other law that ended it. They don’t recognize that some of the exact mechanisms that restricted voting in the 1960s are in place today, performing the same function.
Giving the best possible spin, people don’t recognize voter suppression today because they've never been taught how it was implemented in the past. Gerrymandering, redistricting, placement of polling locations, poll monitors, and election police all have roots in voter suppression. Either they go unrecognized because they were never learned, or they go unaddressed by those who are the beneficiaries. Either way, voter suppression must be ended.
White Replacement Theory"“We Will Not Be Replaced”” They chanted it in Charlottesville when white supremacists gathered for what became a violent rally supporting their cause. The theory is that white people will be replaced by Jewish people, Blacks, and other minorities when they are entitled to all that they have, much of it obtained as a result of white supremacy.
What America needs to know is that proponents of that theory have reached the upper echelons of the White House and influential groups across the land. We need to know (and teach) what white replacement theory is to root it out when it raises its ugly head.
Whiteness
Whiteness didn’t exist until after Bacon'’s Rebellion in 1676 in Virginia. America invented it. Whiteness caused a dramatic shift in the source of America'’s cheap labor, going from a system that utilized a large percentage of indentured servants to almost exclusively enslaved people. When white indentured servants, Black indentured servants, and Black enslaved people joined forces to burn down Jamestown, VA, then the capital. It was too much for the powers that be to accept, so they invented whiteness. They eliminated indentured servitude and made the white indentured servants who once worked alongside Black people their superiors based solely on the color of their skin.
Who is and was considered white has expanded over the years. As we reach 2045, the existing group of white people becomes a minority. Look for whiteness to expand more so that they might maintain their majority.
Reparations
What little is taught about reparations is that they are not economically feasible and that there is no way to accurately determine who might be entitled. What isn’t addressed is the rationale for reparations and who has received them in the past.
We may know about reparations given to some Japanese Americans after being held in internment camps during World War Two. Little is known about reparations given to white enslavers after the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War. Black people were eligible for small amounts if they agreed to leave the country forever.
For the record, some Black farmers were given their portion of forty acres (no mule), but after they developed the land, it was taken back and returned to the previous white owners. Before reparations are dismissed, it’s only reasonable that they at least be understood.
The Haitian Revolution
This isn’t American history, but the impact on America was so great that it needs to be taught. The fear of the revolt of enslaved people was the rationale for slave patrols, literacy laws, and the Second Amendment if you acknowledge PatrickHenry'’s contribution to the Constitution. A partial story of Toussant Louverture is one of the few things often taught during Black History Month. Not so much how he was betrayed, how France made Haiti pay for their freedom for a lifetime, and the role Europe and the United States played after the revolution in keeping Haiti down.
The Haitian Revolution was an example that plantation owners never wanted to be emulated in America. Denmark Vessey was inspired by the Haitian Revolution and planned to raise an army of 9,000 enslaved people to take over Charleston and the surrounding area. Black people were prevented from reading lest they find out about that revolt and others. Nat Turner is believed to have modeled his revolt on the Haitian Revolution. Please don't sleep on it.
The Founding Fathers
Americans are taught to revere the founding fathers to the point where we learn lies rather than acknowledge the truth. Most of them owned and mistreated enslaved people, and all of them made compromises to accept the practice of enslavement. It's said we shouldn’t judge people of the past based on today’s moral standards. Many people of the day both knew and did better. They deserve no excuse for their behavior, and the truth must be told.
This is excellent.
I mentioned that I've done volunteer work transcribing, and therefore reading thousands of documents (I just hit my 10,000th transcription) most of which were operating paperwork for the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands - the government agency that was put in place to help organize the chaos in the South post Civil War.
My middle class white eyes that thought I was pretty good at history were opened wide...and even if I wanted to, which I dont I can't go back.
I have (so far) only dealt with docs from 1865 to 1874. So none of the Jim Crow issues, but the Bureau which was meant to be temporary had shut down by then.
Many of the Agents' reports and transcripts of court cases are page after page of white outrage and transparently unfair treatment both under the law and outside it. I read one chilling letter from a community leader to the Gov. Of Florida about setting up schools for the newly freed slaves. It stated particularly that the state wanted to form a Board of Education before the B.R F & AL could, and mandate curriculum, so they could keep control of what was taught. It was dated sometime in 1866.
I I'm already writing a novel here so won't go on and on.
Let's just say with regard to Critical Race Theory, I had absolutely no idea of this history from school. But in just my small niche study, it's very clear that the reason this isn't being taught isn't because of the discomfort it might cause precious students, but because if you shine a light on this, many of the younger generation will see the blatant unfairness and want to change it.
And that's pretty much the only way to change people's minds it seems. Age them out.
I’m a teacher. I’m in my 40th year. My students encounter all those things.