--- title: Black History Month: Change How We Teach Black History description: When the telling or teaching of African Americans’ history begins with slavery, it ignores African Americans' humanity now. canonical: https://time.com/4208013/black-history-month-education/ author: Keisha Bentley-Edwards article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-04T17:28:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:21.328Z article:section: Ideas og:title: We Need to Change How We Teach Black History og:description: When the teaching begins with slavery, it ignores African Americans' humanity now og:url: https://time.com/4208013/black-history-month-education/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1014c4751f582292/69887c255f570fece9b1f803/empty-classroom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5092 og:image:height: 2864 og:image:alt: empty-classroom og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: We Need to Change How We Teach Black History twitter:description: When the teaching begins with slavery, it ignores African Americans' humanity now twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1014c4751f582292/69887c255f570fece9b1f803/empty-classroom.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # We Need to Change How We Teach Black History > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=3cb59812-5bac-403e-be02-6bf6286ec819&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The March on Washington: The Movement Begins [Watch (HLS stream): The March on Washington: The Movement Begins](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eYWENlb4.m3u8) (6:26)  _Published 2014-04-07. The March on Washington was a peaceful demonstration for racial equality. But it would not have happened without the beatings, arrests and violent struggle for civil rights that had already engulfed the Deep South._ by [Keisha Bentley-Edwards](https://time.com/author/keisha-l-bentley-edwards/) ## Keisha Bentley-Edwards Feb 4, 2016 5:28 PM UTC  Empty classroom Empty classroom Getty Images by [Keisha Bentley-Edwards](https://time.com/author/keisha-l-bentley-edwards/) ## Keisha Bentley-Edwards Feb 4, 2016 5:28 PM UTC Columnist and Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King recently wrote that Black History Month [should not begin and end with lessons of American slavery](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-black-history-month-slavery-article-1.2513580). This is exactly right but for reasons somewhat different from the ones that he puts forth. School children, as well as adults, should understand the breadth of black heritage. When we study any other group, we recognize the fullness of their humanity. Just as we should never forget the pain of the Holocaust when we talk about Jewish history, we do not often begin discussions with that horrific event. When you recognize a group’s humanity, you understand that these historical moments were preceded by their own socio-historical contexts. Well before the rise of European imperialism, the peoples of Africa had their own empires and political systems. In West Africa, the fall of the Songhai Empire and ensuing civil wars left its people vulnerable for colonial exploitation and enslavement. Points in history are also related to events that occur years later and influence current perceptions and policies. Stereotypes of African American men as strong but not smart and women as hypersexual can be traced to common perceptions of enslaved Africans. I am not suggesting that people should know the vast history of Africans just for knowledge’s sake or for a sense of cultural pride, although each is important. People should learn this history because everyone should know that my black ancestors were humans, not slaves. These Africans were kidnapped and later enslaved. Enslaved Africans brought culture and norms with them that impacted their language, diet and spirituality. When enslaved Africans are described as slaves instead of as humans, the harms they suffered are diminished. Take, for example, Scholastic’s unfortunate decision to publish a children’s book called “A Birthday Cake for George Washington” just in time for Black History Month. It shows the pervasive misunderstanding of the African American experience. This modern-day slave book, which was recently rescinded by the publisher, portrays the life of Hercules, George Washington’s enslaved master chef. I don’t know whether it is ironic or blatant indifference to write a book about Hercules having so much pride in baking a grand birthday cake for George Washington while omitting that he escaped bondage on a subsequent birthday. It should be understood that people can have pride in their work, or even a privileged position within the hierarchy of slavery, yet still know they are oppressed and still seek their freedom. If Hercules’ humanity were accepted, then the authors and publishers would understand that a skewed depiction of happy slaves is neither refreshing nor new. I vividly remember that my elementary history book included depictions of grinning enslaved Africans playing the fiddle, couples dancing and babies toddling about in its two-page section on slavery. I remember being uncomfortable then, and it disturbs me that these or similar images continue to be the introduction to black history for so many people. Which leads to this point: The ways in which we teach black history need improvement. Incessantly reciting lists of black inventions and firsts without discussing the contexts of the accomplishments provides only a shell of what Carter G. Woodson intended when he initiated our annual celebration of black people. For example, Benjamin Banneker, who was a freeman and prolific scientist, is most often recognized for being a key surveyor of Washington, D.C. What is not typically discussed is that he gained much of his scientific knowledge from his formerly enslaved father, who was from a learned Wolof family. The Wolof people (in present day Senegal) are an ethnic group that was once part of the Songhai Empire — known for its cultural and intellectual hubs. This context provides insight about how Banneker, with little formal education, would become a scientist and surveyor, among other accomplishments. When the telling or teaching of African Americans’ history begins with slavery, it ignores their humanity now, just as their humanity was denied in the past. When the profound contributions of African Americans before, during and after their enslavement are recognized, then their humanity — and therefore _my_ humanity — is undeniable, and black lives would, in fact, matter. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, there's not anything more powerful than the marching feet of a determined people. We shall not be moved. As a kid, there was not much I could aspire to. We were diminished in the way we thought we could access power. And be part of the American fabric. [ NOISE ] And so, this gigantic march. We were saying to the world, this Land of great opportunity. This land of liberty, has an asterisk beside it. It is a land of freedom for everybody else, except black people. [ CROSSTALK ] Do you want to be free? Yes! Do you want to be free? Yes! Do you want to be free? Yes! [ CROSSTALK ] [ MUSIC ] Prior to Martin Luther King, Jr ., the United States was like a dysfunctional drug addict or alcoholic. You become addicted to racial segregation. [ MUSIC ] The end of the second World War, you were under the belief, if we were triumphant over Fascism, that the men and women returned from that conflict. Would be celebrated and honored When I was growing up in rural Alabama and would see those signs that was there. White waiting, colored waiting. White men, colored men. I would ask my mother, my father, my grandparents why they would say, that's the way it is, don't get in the way. I first knew of Dr. King the way everybody knew of Dr. King. All of a sudden one day in the midst of this turmoil in some far away place called Montgomery. Dr. King was pressed into service and took over the leadership of the Montgomery bus boycott, and we heard that almost immediately because not only did he, accept the leadership. But he pressed this idea that we should do it nonviolently. I was deeply inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Junior to find a way to get in the way. So, I used non violence by sitting on a lunch counter stool, by going on the freedom ride. To get in the way. The Freedom Ride was an attempt to break the segregation laws on interstate transportation on buses and on trains. There were six whites on the Freedom Ride and seven blacks we would sit together the black and white and Rock Hill South Carolina is where we encountered the first violence with John Lewis being. Pretty well beaten up. Federal government finally intervened and these early victories only encouraged us that we could do other things. They were very smart, media wise, because they dressed up. They put the ties on, they put jackets on. They were looking good. And they are going up against the authority. They're going against the man That was tremendously exciting to us as young, white southerners. As the non- violent uh, concept grew, parallel to that was also the growth of, eye for an eye violence. And there were many who, were quite bright, and quite gifted and honorable men and women. We saw violence as an answer. That just did not quite sit comfortably with the code that others of us had. Saying that although racism was a cruel experience, we could not fight it by becoming racists. [ NOISE ] In Birmingham, Alabama, the nation was cheated with television images. Of black and white boys and girls having high pressure fire hoses , slam them up against the walls as they were peacefully demonstrating to end segregation. Police dogs biting them. These pictures were circulated all around the world. [ NOISE ] But those demonstrations were like a. Spark that ignited a prairie fire of black protests across the country. And Kennedy, on the one hand he's trying to win Africans and people and say, we're a better system than Communism, and at the same time there was this harsh treatment of black people that just didn't square in the final equation. And the more we were fiesty in our demands of government, the more it revealed the weaknesses in our construct. What started out, as the Black Negro protest, had developed into a Negro revolution. There was a feeling that we would not be able to break the deep south. So, that march on Washington was to be the culmination of all of this intense organizing. It really has to be a moral crusade for the country. The struggle for freedom in the United States had to move to the center of power. To where the predsident and the congress were that no matter how many demonstrations took place In Montgomery and in Birmingham, and in places all around the South. That until you could change the central government, significant things wouldn't happen. The march on Washington was an accumulation of all this cuz here would have been the biggest display of America in its most democratic moment. Making a choice, and it was something that was emerging as, a great demonstration as to the will of the people. [ MUSIC ] [ UNKNOWN ] That that day, erupted, into violence. Then our cause would be seriously. [ UNKNOWN ] reversed. And hard to come by again. 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