White historians had for a century crudely distorted the Negro’s role in the Reconstruction years. It was a conscious and deliberate manipulation of history and the stakes were high.
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We recommend reading what Dr. Martin Luther King had to say about Reconstruction as part of his tribute to W. E. B. Du Bois on Feb. 23, 1968. King explains that myths about Reconstruction poisoned “the collective mind of America with racism,” and he describes how Du Bois set out to demolish those myths in his vital text, Black Reconstruction in America.
Reconstruction in Schools
Unfortunately, we found that many of the myths W. E. B. Du Bois and Dr. Martin Luther King described still prevail in state standards on Reconstruction. Those findings are documented in Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle: How State Standards Fail to Teach the Truth About Reconstruction. This is the first-ever report to describe and critique how states recommend teaching Reconstruction. Please read and share!
Spread the Word
We need your help to spread the word about the report so that it leads to a radical change in how Reconstruction is taught.
Here are suggestions:
email colleagues with a link to your state's assessment and ask for their reflections;
share the report on social media;
share the findings with your students and ask if they ring true for their K–12 education so far;
write a letter to the editor about the report and Reconstruction education in your state; and/or
discuss a section of the report in a teacher workshop or reading group.
