Historic Inauguration- Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Written by Chaka Smith
Today is an historic day. We inaugurate President Barack Obama on the national celebrated holiday MLK Jr. day. Many Americans will be glued to their tube listening to his speech. Many of our elders will harken back to when Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech, “I have Dream.” As school assembles in North Carolina, there will be many teachers who will maintain the status quo in teaching our students about black history and civil rights. This is a small competency sentence that is ambiguous yet short in its explanation:
11.02 Trace major events of the Civil Rights Movement and evaluate its impact.
11.03 Identify major social movements including, but not limited to, those involving women, young people, and the environment, and evaluate the impact of these movements on the United States’ society.
These are the competency goals for 11th Grade US History. Middle schools social studies are very ambiguous as well with the only American history studied in the 8th grade because of the study of North Carolina history. But how are we to expect our students to respect the differences of each other when our historical education lacks the same unity. I know there is more priority given to the common core content such as reading, math and science. But there must also be a priority to ingratiate the American history education with diverse examples of not only Black History but Civil Rights as a whole. The goal should be to obtain a deeper understanding of American history. Don’t let the African prefix in the description of race fool you or anybody. I am first and foremost an American and that’s how our contributions should be understood. The term Civil Rights in ambiguous and inclusive. It is not just for my rights, but everybody.
Clio’s Parade would like to give a huge thanks to Chaka Smith, a friend and fellow academic scholar for writing this post today. Much love into the blogosphere for Chaka and his help!
You can follow Chaka, speaking his mind on many topics: A True Historian
Hats off to Mr. Smith for a succinct and even-handed response to a historic date – so often I read historians who are over-lather their descriptions of moving occasions, but Mr. Smith provides his simple commentary and leads the reader to draw their own conclusions – a mark of a great historian indeed.
Thanks! We know Chaka was really excited to do this for us and we are looking forward to having him back soon! Make sure to come back and visit us!
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