Over our last few discussions, I have learned a great amount about specific characters and figures that stood for something greater than themselves. I learned about their sacrifices and the hardships they faced to keep their protests peaceful. The quote “You have to be twice as good to get half as much” has stuck with me recently as a lens to look through in order to understand the hardships so many people dealt with and still face today. However despite the great figures we have learned about and the informative presentations we have watched, the idea that has occupied the most space in my mind came about the other day in class. Dr. Kinyon emphasized the inadequate discussion of the Civil Rights movement in the American education system. Though a targeted portrayal of history had been something I did not consider unlikely in American education, until recently I had never given the idea proper thought.
While there are many things to be proud of in American history, slavery, segregation, and the need for a grand movement for black equality clearly do not fall into this group. America grew and became what is today in large part thanks to the help of great amounts of slave labor. The heroes of the civil rights movement were not treated or thought of as heroes by many white Americans just around sixty years ago. American wars and scuffles are discussed for weeks in classrooms while the fight of a whole race for equality is often glossed over. The civil rights movement made incredible strides towards their goal for equality, but it is evident today that this goal is yet to be reached in it’s entirety. While crucial change and reform is being called for in policing and the workplace, it is important to seek the same progress in the history we teach to the next generation(s).