Why every American should know African American history.

First, read the following articles before answering week 8’s Final Discussion:

(1.) From Juneteenth to the Tulsa massacre: What isn’t taught in classrooms has a profound impact. Educators said the history of systemic racism in this country and the contributions of Black people have been erased. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/juneteenth-tulsa-massacre-what-isn-t-taught-classrooms-has-profound-n1231442

(2.) Racism in America: Resources to Help You Understand America’s Long History of Injustice & Equality. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/08/understanding-racism-inequality-america/?arc404=true

(3.) Reparations for Slavery. https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2019082300

Class, a new movement has started since the early 2000s, where some political groups are trying to remove American history from our children’s school curriculum and textbooks, specifically slave history. These groups also do not want to cover segregation, civil rights and more. By removing the history that we have just covered in these last eight weeks, the African American communities are denied their connections to American History and so are others who would like to learn more about the history of slavery and racial inequality in America. Recently, African Americans have created movements such as “Black Lives Matter” to counteract these other groups, have begun to celebrate Juneteenth as “Independence Day” or “Liberation Day” for African-Americans and have pushed to renew the reparations’ discussion. Many tie slave history to the development of segregation and racism that has spread throughout our country. A historical trauma has affected generations of African-Americans because of what their ancestors had to endure just to survive in this country. This distrust has developed towards different groups, agencies, and organizations. For those who are not affected, trying to understand what it means to be an African-American in the United States showcases the need for this history to be taught in all schools and to every American.

Your final discussion is to prepare a speech that would explain to all of America why African American History from after Reconstruction to the present should be taught.

Explain why every American should know African American history. You will be expected to use specific facts, events and people that you have learned from this course.

These facts, events, and people must come from your required work this term and from research in the library or from the course bibliography.

You will, as usual, respond to at least two students. Respond as many times as you want and I will grade your two best responses.

Do not forget to read the lesson for this week.

Please remember that as this replaces your final exam, you must clearly demonstrate what you have learned from all the required work starting with Week 2 and ending with Week 7. I want to see the breath of your knowledge gained in this class. Your grade will primarily be based on that. You must have at least three posts. Use them to further demonstrate how much you have learned from the required material and your research.

Remember that this Discussion is worth 10 percent of your grade.