This year our nation has faced a grand reckoning on the issue of racial inequality, and as a result, students from Ithaca City School District have started to wonder if IHS’s history curriculum is up to par with the Black history instruction that is needed in schools today. Black History can include teaching about achievements made by Black people, talking about the long and ongoing oppression of Black people in America, and attacking the whitewashing of world and American history. The Tattler Editorial Board believes ICSD has the opportunity to be a leader in integrating Black history into the curriculum and it needs to take active steps to reach that goal.
At the moment, federal laws require absolutely nothing in regard to Black history in our educational curriculum. However, in 2005 New York State passed a law which mandates that the slave trade and the immediate aftereffects of American slavery be taught in schools.
This is not enough. Right now, there is a New York State Senate bill in committee (bill S1135A) which proposes adding more Black history into New York State’s K-12 curriculum. If the bill is passed by the Senate and Assembly and signed by the governor, then the New York State curriculum will require events like the Harlem Renaissance, the Buffalo antislavery movement, the suffrage of African American Long Islanders and more to be taught in all New York classrooms.
To justify the bill for a more complete Black History to be taught in New York schools, New York State Senator Brian A. Benjamin states, “I believe the African-American community has come very far from no voice at all, to making huge contributions, and overcoming many setbacks, which is worth teaching. It is not enough, to only talk of these contributions in just a month and more likely forget it afterwards.” The State Senator goes on to talk about how the teaching of Black history in schools could potentially change systemic racist stereotypes. “Many young people assume that because white historically meant good and African-American is bad/evil, Europeans or white people have always been biased against those of African descent and racism is just an extension of ancient practices. Teaching young people at an early age about the actual history of African-American people can help reduce the many misconceptions surrounding African-American and white people and race, and can reduce the stereotypes young people grow up adhering to.”
But until the bill is passed, which will most likely take years, ICSD teachers and administrators need to make an active commitment to talking about systemic racism in our country and the many events and people that created and grow this system of oppression as well as to celebrate achievements made by Black people throughout history. It’s a two sided coin, both Black achievements and Black oppression need to be taught. Black History Month is simply not enough: an integrated curriculum, rather than a week of performative allyship, is required to teach Black History to the same level of depth that white history receives.
Throughout this summer, ICSD students began conversations about race in America and a spread of information over social media related to Black Lives Matter took shape. And in that outcry against systemic racism and racist policies, students began to realize that the paper-thin idea of Black history that students learn from our schools and general society is only the tip of a massive iceberg full of hundreds of years worth of Black history. Ideas, ages, and events that students have never heard of began circulating through our public and social media for the first time. Students took it upon themselves over the summer to educate themselves on the history they had missed in ICSD. Students shouldn’t have to learn by themselves about the issues upon which American life is grounded, issues that affect every single American to this day. That should be a guarantee in our education system; and yet it’s not. It’s 2020 and it’s time we start teaching real American history. Our current history curriculum is no longer going to cut it.
ICSD has gone through a lot of programs and initiatives and board of education goals in attempts to make Black history a more prominent part of our education, but late September of this year, 100 students answered a survey about their experience with Black history in ICSD in the past and present and 40% of students said their experience was “Not Good, I feel like I missed out on certain important events or historical figures because my teacher/curriculum doesn’t focus enough on Black History” and 17% said “My teachers and the New York State curriculum have completely failed me while teaching about Black history in the classroom, it’s hardly addressed ever and I don’t feel ICSD has done anything to change that.” ICSD has made an effort over the years to include more marginalized voices in history classes but if the majority of students aren’t aware it’s happening, there’s a problem.. Communicating with students might be the first step there. IHS and ICSD students care about their education, which is apparent from a third of responders leaving comments on the google form that was sent out, with each student detailing different problems they have with their ICSD history courses and ideas for how to make them better.
Over the summer, as a reaction to America’s national racial reckoning, ICSD has been trying to make some improvements in the schools’ attention and awareness of race. According to multiple accounts from IHS teachers, the majority of English and History teachers have been trying to look at their curriculum through a new anti-racist lens. Amy Spinelli, a Global 1 and Global 2 history teacher at IHS said,“Over the summer I know many teachers engaged in meaningful dialogue and protests surrounding anti-racism. This included book groups reading books such as Ibram X. Kendi’s (2019) How to Be an Anti-Racist, Zoom discussions about common practices and current systems, as well as participating in the Black Lives Matter rallies on the Commons on Sundays. And of course lots of introspection.” Tenth grade history teacher, Mathew Prokosch said, “Besides departmental conversations, ICSD did mandate some professional development (PD) in August and September regarding anti-racism.”
One difficulty Prokosch encountered during the PD sessions was the size of the group, saying, “I feel much more comfortable discussing sensitive topics in small groups with people I know,” but he hopes that this will be adjusted for later sessions. Prokosh, like most teachers interviewed, had faith in the district and history department to make changes, “Like all aspects of education, teaching Black history is a work in progress, and one I know myself and my department are devoted to continuing improving upon.” Prokosch also mentioned his ideas and thoughts for a potential elective that focuses on Black history and representing marginalized voices. Though he sees the “current trend towards funding STEM over the Humanities” being a tough barrier to break in order to make that happen.
So what more should ICSD be doing? Teachers, primarily history teachers, need to be able to step outside of their comfort zones, have open talks with their classes, and be able to facilitate discussions where they might not have all the answers. While these issues can be uncomfortable to address—especially in a predominantly white school—these discussions will make Ithaca High School a more inclusive and knowledgeable community overall.
At the end of the year, the history department should develop a survey so that students can give their voice into whether or not the class had meaningful discussions about race, included enough Black history etc. Departements should take the data from these end of the year surveys and use it to figure out what they should/shouldn’t change about their courses and make plans to implement these ideas and improve the following year.
ICSD should look into devoting more money and resources into having a potential elective focused exclusively on Black history and marginalized voices – IHS students would swarm to that class. In everyday history classes, teachers should actively seek out ways to incorporate discussions and Black history into their given curriculum. When talking about traditional U.S. history and world history events, they should take time to address how minorities and/or women were affected by this. Teachers should strive to and be able to have open conversations with their class about how traditional U.S. and world history events and eras relate to the systemic racism we see today. If the curriculum suggests that a teacher talk about or potentially glorify a slave owner (i.e. founding fathers), the teacher should discuss what they did but then talk to their class about who it affected both positively or negatively and make sure to not brush past this or excuse a slave owner because it’s “what everybody did at the time”. When talking about a slave owner’s “positive” role in history, a simple note on the side is not enough. Teachers should spend an equal amount of time, if not more, learning about the extent of their actions on Black Americans.
This also falls on the administration. They should play an active role in making sure teachers don’t have to stretch their time and resources even thinner by making this change independently. Administration should enforce at the very least two anti-racism and anti-bias trainings for every teacher per year. Perhaps most importantly, after more pressure is taken off this issue (and the pressure will lift), the training shouldn’t stop, the classroom discussions shouldn’t stop, and teacher curriculum changes shouldn’t stop. ICSD has the resources and community support to be a leader in integrating Black History into their curriculum across the state, and they need to take full advantage.
There are zero Black teachers at IHS this year, so it’s especially important that teachers hold each other accountable for their actions and how the specific whitewashed history ICSD can often teach is harmful. Not to mention that having zero Black teachers employed at IHS is inconsistent with our values and demographics. Hiring Black teachers must be a priority for IHS and the whole district. ICSD has a diverse administration, but if that administration is not also reflected in our teachers, it counts for very little.
One of the best things about ICSD’s approach to Black History is the Harlem Renaissance unit that takes place in Dewitt Middle School’s 8th Grade History course. Every student is asked to do an in-depth project about a specific artist from the Harlem Renaissance, and after a couple of weeks, there is a big presentation to parents and the community. The event and unit celebrates the accomplishments of the Harlem Renaissance and the thousands of Black artists effects on American popular culture. Over the unit, there are performances every Friday from local dance or music groups who teach about the many new ways Black artists influenced and invented new music, writing, dance, and more. This is a perfect example of what ICSD does right in teaching about Black accomplishments. The only problem is that after Dewitt 8th grade, it comes to a halt. Boynton does not have any units on the Harlem Renaissance, and no classes afterward do either. In the September Tattler survey mentioned above, many students commented that after middle school, they no longer felt marginalized voices were represented fairly in their classrooms, projects, and units. This type of teaching and celebration of the many contributions Black Americans have made to our society needs to be everywhere.
Incorporating Black history into our classrooms does not start and end with U.S. history. Throughout the documentation of world ancient history, historians have whitewashed almost every figure or ancient civilization that they think of as “good”. Take Greece, widely known as the foundation of Western civilization. We learn that everyone there was white, but Ancient Greece was located in the mediterranean and interacted heavily with both Ethiopia and Egypt. Ancient Greeks were most definitely not all white, but since they invented so much, history has whitewashed them. This could seem like a harmless detail that doesn’t play that big of a part in our actual education, but in ICSD when we learn about all of the great civilizations and figures, we learn about them through a whitewashed lens of Ancient racist historians. It’s dangerous for students to see the vast majority of historical accomplishments being done by white people, when that’s simply not true.
It can be argued that this history is broken down in college but we shouldn’t have to go to college to receive a proper education on Black history. Millions of Americans will never go to college because of the hundreds of thousands of dollars it takes, a price a student should never have to pay to be able to be aware of the deep roots of racism and history of Black Americans.
The changes ICSD has made over the past summer should without doubt be applauded as well as the work over the last 20 years. Many history teachers have taken this racial reckoning very seriously and are changing their courses and training schedules around it. This is exactly what we want to see from ICSD, but we have to remember that everything that teachers and the administration did this summer needs to be replicated next year and more. Teachers and lessons can not be certified as “anti-racist”, it has to be an on-going journey, one that we hope the administration will strive for for years to come. As students at ICSD, we are grateful for the reaction ICSD has had but it’s also our responsibility to make sure that they don’t lose momentum. If ICSD doesn’t step up and have these discussions about race and about Black history not in just a big assembly, not just in Black History month, but every single week in their history classes, then ICSD is complicit as a carrier of the systemic racism this country refuses to touch.