Page 136 - 1619 Project Curriculum

Erasure poem by Reginald Dwayne Betts in The 1619 Project, page 43.

10. Questioning History: What Do You Know About Slavery, and Why?

In “Why Can’t We Teach This?”, Nikita Stewart writes, “[T]he United States still struggles to
teach children about slavery. Unlike math and reading, states are not required to meet academic
content standards for teaching social studies and United States history. That means that there
is no consensus on the curriculum around slavery, no uniform recommendation to explain an
institution that was debated in the crafting of the Constitution and that has influenced nearly
every aspect of American society since.”

What do you know about slavery, and where does that information come from? Choose an
educational resource to explore, such as a textbook, an assigned film, your school library, or a

local museum. While you explore your chosen resource, use the following table to analyze it.
Questioning History.pdf

Did you encounter historical inaccuracies, antiquated language, glaring omissions, or other

instances of “educational malpractice” (Jeffries qtd. in Stewart 3) in the resource(s) you
explored? Pulitzer Center and The New York Times want to know, and might even publish