Racial and Social Justice
Content
1. Introduction
2. The Age of Enlightenment and racism
3. Why it is important to study discrimination
4. Tools for teaching about racism
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Introduction
Racial and social justice must be discussed in any history class on a regular basis.
As educators, it is our duty to help young people understand what oppression is and how it operates. History is first and foremost concerned with changes in all areas of human existence over time. Therefore, history classes must inevitably and frequently address such issues as oppression, discrimination, slavery, and genocide.
Fortunately, these days, many history curricula include such topics as the transatlantic slave trade; slavery in the Americas; the genocide of the Native Americans; colonialism and imperialism; war crimes; the Holocaust; the US Civil Rights movement; and women’s rights. If they do not, they most definitely should.
However, a history instructor’s responsibility does not end with teaching only the topics that are explicitly concerned with discrimination, oppression, and genocide. History students must be made aware of the continuing existence of systemic and institutionalized oppression and discrimination that affects literally any history topic one might be studying. Especially issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, transphobia, and antisemitism must be address repeatedly.
This is not to say that one should force one’s political views on one’s students, especially students living in religiously conservative households or cultures. It is not the task of a history teacher or historian to indoctrinate students. At the same time, I do not share the opinion of some historians that history teaching must “stick to the facts” and “not be ideological”. As discussed in the section Thoughts & Theory, there is no such thing as neutral, objective history. What is taught and how one teaches history will always be influenced by subjective points of view.
Yes, one must remain as objective as possible (especially history researchers must follow the ethical guidelines of the profession discussed in the Thoughts & Theory section), but it is impossible to approach a subject about the human condition with mathematical precision and present “just the facts”. These supposed facts were recorded in the past by individuals and later discovered and interpreted by individuals. They have not appeared ex nihilo and cannot be analyzed like the laws of physics or mathematics. Given that until fairly recently history was primarily written by white, male, western elites, many of the so-called “historical facts” represent the subjective opinions of those elites. Sticking to those supposed “facts” does not equal objectivity but constitutes in itself an ideological act.
A proper history education must therefore discuss discrimination and oppression during various time periods, including the present.
All views and opinions must be welcome in a classroom, but hatred and disrespect must not be tolerated. Such notions are antithetical to what good history teaching and learning is about.
The Age of Enlightenment and racism
During the Age of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century a number of radical political changes took place in Europe and the Americas due to scientists’ and philosophers’ emphasis on the use of reason and opposition to tyranny. However, many Enlightenment thinkers not only supported Western imperialism and the enslavement of Africans, but also actively constructed hierarchies of “human races” in their writings, which were used to justify slavery and colonialism.
Hence, one must never approach the study of human history from the standpoint that European or Western civilizations have since the eighteenth century been the most enlightened, just, and progressive in the world and that twentieth-century fascism and Nazism were simply aberrations in European history.
Why study discrimination in history class?
How one might explain to students why it is important to oppose discrimination and to discuss it in history class:
If you want to live in a democracy and under the rule of law and want to enjoy the rights and privileges this system provides, then you must side with those for whom the same system does not provide (or has not until recently provided) such rights and privileges. Because, in the end, you do not live in a democracy and under the rule of law unless everybody who lives in the same system has the same rights and privileges. Political equality is the basis of a functioning democracy.
This is also a matter of self-interest: If these rights are not guaranteed to others, they may one day not be guaranteed to you anymore either. If the powers that be can limit or take away anyone’s rights for no reason—and skin color, religion, gender, sexual preference, national origin, etc. are not logical, rational reasons to deny anyone equal rights—what will prevent authorities from coming up one day with an equally irrational excuse to limit or take away your rights, or those of your children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren?
Think of the Jews in Germany who until Hitler came to power were proud Germans who had fought for their country in World War I. They never thought their rights as German citizens could or would be taken away.
Furthermore, siding with those who are less fortunate is also just the decent thing to do. You, too, might need help in some context one day and will be glad to receive it. So, if anyone is discriminated against, you should support them in their struggle against discrimination.
Moreover, do not forget that many people whose ancestors were discriminated against, enslaved, massacred, etc. are often still disadvantaged today.
It takes a long time for groups of people and cultures to overcome centuries of discrimination, oppression, and genocide. If you are not discriminated against and neither were your ancestors, you will never be able to understand fully what it is like, and you should never assume that you do. Listen to those who have been or still are discriminated against and try to learn from them.
Historians and history teachers, due to their training, understand—or should understand—all of the above better than most. They must act accordingly.
Tools for teaching about racism
As numerous political, social, economic, and cultural developments and incidents in recent decades have shown, systemic and other forms of racism are far from having been defeated. On the contrary. Education is one of the most important and most powerful tools in the fight against racism. Every single teacher thus has a duty to address issues related to racism on a regular basis. Below are a number of resources to help teachers and students teach and learn about racism in history and today.
https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race
https://ncte.org/blog/2017/08/there-is-no-apolitical-classroom-resources-for-teaching-in-these-times/?fbclid=IwAR0R3lxE7kodaSUWtVJtvR124J7U-dZUpITEBHGg16DiOKFuYQucncMc1Hc
https://www.victorialynnalexander.com/antiracistresourceguide
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/remembering-red-summer-white-mobs-massacred-blacks-tulsa-dc