IDKMYDE: Why They're Still Fighting Over Black History Being Taught in Schools

If Black History Month started 100 years ago, why are people still arguing about what
gets taught? B Daht connects past erasure to present-day textbook battles.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Why they're still fighting over black history in these schools.
I welcome back Know. It als to another episode of
the most anticipated podcast on the Black Effect podcast Network,
especially in February, entitled I didn't Know, Maybe you didn't either.
I'm your host b Dot and my thirteen year old

(00:23):
daughter goes to a predominantly white school. Her mother and
I have been blessed and fortunate enough to live wherever
we want in the city of Charlotte, and it just
so happens that the side of Charlotte we live on,
my baby girl is a minority, and I ain't gonna
cap It's a very conflicting dynamic. Because her mother is
a product of North Carolina Anti State University, I'm a

(00:43):
product of Winston Salem State University, and we know the
importance of being black, We unapologetically black round here, and
it's mandatory that we instill that in our baby girl.
So I share this podcast with her. We have these conversations,
and sometimes she takes them to school with her, and
sometimes she comes home so confused. One time she came

(01:03):
home and said, Dad, none of my teachers knew what
an HBCU was. How deflating? How can the teachers there
even reach the black and brown children if they aren't
educated enough themselves on what an HBCU is. It just
alarms me on what other black history is not being
taught to my baby and her peers, Like if Black

(01:24):
History Month started a hundred years ago. Here's a fair
question why people still arguing about teaching it? Why our
books getting banned, why our class is getting cut? Why
does the truth keep needing a disclaimer? How about we
open that case file today. But before we do, of course,
you know, we've got to start the episode with three
of the most useless facts you'll never need, not a

(01:45):
day in life about black history in schools. Up first
states have passed laws restricting how racism and black history
can be taught, not denying it happened, just limiting how
honest you can be about it. Please see Florida here
your second useless fact about black history being taught in schools.

(02:08):
Textbook battles over black history started almost immediately after segregation ended. Coincidence.
My therapist Jackie Horton says, there's no such thing as coincidences,
And your third useless fact, every major expansion of black
history education has been met with organized pushback. Again, that's

(02:29):
not coincidence, that's coordination. I didn't know. I didn't know.
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
didn't know. All right, here's the part people dance around.
Black history ain't controversial because it's sad. It's controversial because

(02:51):
it's explanatory. See when students learned the full story, how
laws were written and how wealth was blocked, how systems
were designed, well, suddenly inequality stops looking like a mystery.
And that's uncomfortable because if you teach black history honestly,
you also have to teach who benefited, who blocked progress,
and even more importantly, who's still benefiting right now. So

(03:15):
instead of them saying we don't want accountability, the argument becomes, oh,
this makes kids uncomfortable, this is divisive, this is an
age appropriate, but discomfort ain't the issue. Clarity is between
twenty twenty one and twenty twenty three, eighteen states pass
laws restricting how race can be taught. At least sixteen

(03:38):
hundred books been banned, many about black history, civil rights,
or systemic racism. That's why the fight ain't about if
black history happened, It's about how much context you're allowed
to give it. And this is exactly what Carter G.
Woodson warned us about in nineteen twenty six. He said,
if a group's history is controlled by others, the present

(04:00):
will be too. A hundred years later, we're watching that
prediction play out in real time again. Carter G. Woodson
didn't create Negro History Week because the schools forgot. He
created it because schools refused, refused to tell the full story,
refused to connect calls and effect refuse to let history
explain the presence. That fight didn't end in nineteen twenty six.

(04:24):
It just got louder microphones. And I didn't know. Maybe
you didn't need the podcast. So if you ever wonder
why black history still feel like it's up for debate,
remember this The true thing dangerous, what it exposes is
And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. I