For decades, advocates have stressed to curricula decision-makers the need for factual, diverse perspectives in textbooks - ones that include the struggles, culture, and customs of the Black people who built this country!
In 2019, they finally got their wish.
High school students enrolled in the Dallas Independent School District were presented, for the first time, with an elective African American studies course.
But if you think this is a superficial lesson, barely covering slavery and a sprinkle of repetitively recognized Civil Rights Movement leaders, think again.
Past and present critics insist that inclusive ethnic studies courses are unwanted, divisive instruments of prejudice.
But early reports show lines of students BEGGING for seats in the class, simply because they see value in learning our country’s full story - complete with heroes whose very existence inspires them to excel academically. They’re also drawn to the open dialogue among their peers that it offers.
Bi-partisan Texas State Board of Education representatives have enthusiastically declared their intentions to approve the class’s statewide adoption in April 2020.
Frankly, teaching the next generation about our people’s continual resilience against our oppressors and triumphant contributions to this country - especially its economy - deserves to be an educational priority.