Teaching Slavery

Recently a Bronx teacher was removed from the classroom, after choosing three Black students to demonstrate the conditions on slave ships. Allegedly, when one of the students giggled, the teacher stepped on her back. Not an effective lesson.
Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/teacher-stepped-black-students-back-slavery-lesson-798405)

A similar incident occurred in 2008, and was blogged about on this site.
http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/teaching-african-american-history-and.html

The Southern Poverty Law Center's -Teaching Tolerance Project has released a report on " Teaching the Hard History of American Slavery"
https://www.splcenter.org/teaching-hard-history-american-slavery

Because:

• schools are not adequately teaching the history of American slavery.
•  Educators are not sufficiently prepared to teach it. 
• Textbooks do not have enough material about it.

Take the Quiz- How much do you know about slavery?

https://www.splcenter.org/data-projects/how-much-do-you-know-about-american-slavery

The SPLC found that:

Slavery is not simply an event in our history; it’s central to our history.

American enslavement of Africans shaped our country's sociopolitical institutions and formed the cornerstone of our industrial revolution. Today the persistent disparities African Americans face — and the backlash that seems to follow every African-American advancement — trace their roots to slavery and its aftermath.

To understand the world today we must understand slavery. But SPLC research shows our schools are failing to teach the hard history of African enslavement. 

They surveyed U.S. high school seniors and social studies teachers, analyzed a selection of state content standards, and reviewed 10 popular U.S. history textbooks. They found:

• High school seniors struggle on even the most basic questions about American enslavement of Africans.
• Teachers who are serious about teaching slavery struggle to provide deep coverage of the subject in the classroom.
• Popular textbooks fail to comprehensively cover slavery and enslaved peoples.
• State content standards are timid and fail to set appropriately high expectations. 

Read the Report- https://www.splcenter.org/20180131/teaching-hard-history

Use these resources:

A comprehensive guide for teaching and learning this critical topic—

A Framework for Teaching American Slavery.

Here are a few key elements of the framework and the accompanying resources:

• Key Concepts and Summary Objectives — Important big ideas and critical content students must know to understand the historical significance of slavery.
• Primary Source Texts — The Teaching Hard History Text Library features over 100 sources, all with text-dependent questions.
• Teaching Tools — Browse six sample Inquiry Design Models, based on The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards.
• Podcast — Hosted by Professor Hasan Jeffries, this series brings us the lessons we should have learned in school through the voices of leading scholars and educators.
• Student Quiz — Use this 12-question quiz as a formative assessment.
• Webinar — Join us live on February 13 or learn on demand.

Some other resources
Books

Maroon teachers : teaching the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans/ Sandra Gift (HT1072 .G55 2008)

Trading souls : Europe's transatlantic trade in Africans/ Hilary Beckles (HT1322 .B434 2007)

Saving souls : the struggle to end the transatlantic trade in Africans / Hilary Beckles (HT1322 .B27 2007)

Inhuman traffick : the international struggle against the transatlantic slave trade : a graphic history/Rafe Blaufarb (Juv. 306.3 .B645i)

Websites

African Passages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/exhibits/show/africanpassageslowcountryadapt/introductionatlanticworld/trans_atlantic_slave_trade

In Motion: the African American Experience

http://www.inmotionaame.org/home.cfm?site=html