Regaining Lost Black History Literacy
A general atmosphere of historical and civic illiteracy helps drive an anti-Black movement to erase Black history. How to push back?
Ellison | Publisher’s riff
The most important work we do during Black History Month is to ensure that Black history itself doesn’t become a relentless caricature and permanent target. That’s a very difficult and nearly impossible proposition, especially in these times. Yet, it’s a central component to the mission first carried out by Black History Month creator Carter G. Woodson who pointed out how much the history of African peoples was often and systematically “ … overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them."
Woodson rightfully lamented in his seminal work, The Mis-Education of the Negro “As another has well said, to handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching.”
That struggle to alter condition starts with transformational change on multiple levels: from our politics and governance to our economics and wealth to our culture and arts. But none of that happens without first recognition. Do we, as an American society, have full recognition that the “handicap” Woodson referenced even exists? There’s clear evidence that we choose not to, even as we’re now in the 54th official commemoration of Black History Month. As it begins today, society is still caught up in the usual Black celebrity tropes and narratives of those who “made it” and an obligatory rollout of performative programming that will give us the impression that racism and Black struggle happened way “back then.” These days, a dangerously growing number of Americans don’t want to even think about “those days” and will act as if racism never existed or that slavery wasn’t the cause of the Civil War (per Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley) or that influential Black policymakers are the cause of national “division.” Others will ban books about us or written about us.
We’re seeing a movement, gaining momentum, to force the full erasure of Black history, or at least the parts deemed too uncomfortable to address or talk about. What’s more troubling about this is that even as we know that such an anti-Black movement is rooted in racism and general ignorance of Black history, it’s how the general atmosphere of historical illiteracy continues to drive it. Fewer classrooms, as books are being banned, teach the history less. Fewer people, especially younger people, know this essential history or where to source it.
Historical illiteracy is at record levels. It’s a pernicious problem, as Joel Mathis explored in The Week …
Why are American students failing history? Civics and history scores among the nation's eighth graders plummeted during the most recent round of federal testing, Politico reports, raising "a broader concern about pandemic-era learning loss." Many observers are worried about what the findings mean for American democracy. "Whether students know U.S. history and civics is a national concern," said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics.
How bad is the problem? "Just 13 percent of eighth graders were considered proficient" in history, The New York Times reports — down from 18 percent a decade ago. There was a smaller drop in civics knowledge: 22 percent of test-takers were considered proficient, down from 24 percent in 2018.
That impacts how Black communities themselves are acquiring Black history knowledge. As Pew Research shows, most African Americans are relying on an informal “friend and family” process of learning Black history that’s not really as solidly institutional as it should be. That becomes problematic, and it explains moments when racial gaslighting from anti-Black political candidates takes place, Black journalists and public influencers lack the historical and civic literacy to appropriately push back. From Pew …
Nearly nine-in-ten Black Americans say they are at least somewhat informed about the history of Black people in the United States, with family and friends being the single largest source of information about it, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey of Black adults.
About half of Black Americans (51 percent) say they are very or extremely informed about the history of Black people in the U.S. Nearly four-in-ten (37 percent) say they are somewhat informed, while 11% say they are a little or not at all informed.
Among Black adults who identify as Black alone, 51 percent say they are very or extremely informed about U.S. Black history. An identical share of multiracial (51 percent) adults say the same. About half of U.S.-born Black adults (51 percent) and Black immigrants (50 percent) also say they are very or extremely informed about U.S. Black history.
These numbers above are worrisome. If most of your sourcing is informal and not institutional - rooted in anchor systems such as the Black church, Historically Black Colleges and Universities or community-oriented schools designed specifically for that mission - how much Black history do you really know? Beyond systemic economic and social injustice, historical illiteracy partly explains the general public’s malaise or indifference towards the deeper examinations of Black history … or the part of it that forces America to take a needed inward look at itself. Reversing that trend entails a refreshed and completely inclusive national appreciation for the humanities. Lack of investment in the humanities over several decades hasn’t helped the situation.
Ultimately, American history is Black history - you can’t have the former without the latter. But general historical illiteracy removes that analysis. The deterioration of Black historical literacy and thought also contributes, directly, to the decay of democracy because, well, Black struggle is what created true democracy. We can absolutely make the argument that erasing the record of that struggle is deliberate. During Black History Month, we need to actively plan against that. This is the part where we’ll need to, first, understand that the humanities are a critical part of how we operate as a society and then push policymakers to invest in them.
CHARLES D. ELLISON is Publisher of theBEnote. He is also Principal and Chief Strategist of B|E Strategy.