What Your Civil Rights Education Lacks

MORE THAN A DREAM:

 

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More than a Dream: What Your Civil Rights Education Lacks While the civil rights movement was one of the most powerful battles in American history, a study by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)1 shows that the majority of schools do not teach this subject in an adequate manner. The study compared the topics that were required in each state’s civil rights curriculum to those that were recommended for a thorough introduction on the movement. States were rated on a letter grade scale, with “A” states requiring teachers to cover over 60% of the recommended content, and “F” states requiring coverage of less than 20%. As illustrated below, 35 states received an “F”.

Note. Retrieved from Southern Poverty Law Center.

                                                                                                               1 Teaching the Movement: The State of Civil Rights Education 2011, Southern Poverty Law Center, http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/teaching-the-movement

 

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With remarkably low requirements, most curricula are narrowly focused on individual civil rights leaders. Maureen Costello, the director of Teaching Tolerance2, explains it briefly: “For too many students, their civil rights education boils down to two people and four words: Rosa Park, Dr. King and ‘I Have a Dream’.” While many educators paint a vague picture of iconic individuals, very few students are introduced to the history of institutionalized equality; the “triggers” behind the movement—including Jim Crow laws, literacy tests and the Ku Klux Klan—are barely covered.3 Additionally, though the civil rights movement is commonly portrayed through snapshots of significant leaders and events, it is, in reality, the story of everyday people who organized into groups and worked slowly yet persistently towards common goals. These groups, including the NAACP, the Black Panthers and student groups, are very rarely covered in curriculum. Interestingly, many of the Southern states that were involved in the movement received a “C” or higher on SPLC’s scale. Alabama leads the country with a 70%.

Note. Retrieved from Southern Poverty Law Center.

For the states that witnessed the movement, the struggles of the tumultuous era are still a reality. Students may have relatives who were involved in organized groups, and they can fully understand the events by visiting the very locations where they took place. For them, the civil rights movement is more than a couple pages in a history book.                                                                                                                2 A project put on by the Southern Poverty Law Center, www.tolerance.org 3 Six, three and one states require coverage of these topics, respectively. Op.cit.  

 

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Luckily, there is little preventing students in Eastern, Midwestern and South Central states from digging deeper into the history of the civil rights movement. Brightspark’s Civil Rights Tours take students to Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma, Tuskegee and Atlanta, where they’ll get up close to the events. Students deserve a chance to truly understand these cities through centers like the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Located amongst historic sites such as the 16th Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, this “living institution” is dedicated to the accurate portrayal of the movement. By better understanding the injustice of the past and the power of organization, students are able to appreciate today’s equality while identifying areas for improvement.