— Bryan Lyman, Montgomery Advertiser
For much of the 20th century, southern classrooms treated Black history — when they touched the subject at all — as a sideshow to a white-dominated narrative.
Teachers taught students to sing Dixie and memorize long lists of forgettable governors. Civil War battles got described in detail. Textbooks celebrated the violent overthrow of democratically-elected, multiracial governments. Lynching went unmentioned. The evils of slavery got cursory acknowledgments — and quick dismissals.
“It should be noted that slavery was the earliest form of social security in the United States,” a 1961 Alabama history textbook said, falsely.
Featured Image, A Confederate flag hangs in the Robert E. Lee High School gym during a school assembly in 1968.
Full Article @ Montgomery Advertiser