Lies My Teacher Told Me, Chapter 5

This chapter discusses the impact that slavery has had upon our nation. Unlike most of the chapters in Loewen up to this point, American textbooks seem to have done a better job at describing the 'peculiar institution' which was slavery. However, while the life of the slaves and their lack of rights illustrates the negativity associated with slavery, Loewen argues that history does a poor job of explaining the impact of slavery on white citizens in both the North and in the South. Also, we must take into consideration that while we no longer have slaves, we still have racism. According to Loewen, white people feel that they are elite in terms of class in comparison to African Americans and much of this superiority complex is rooted in the existence of slavery. Slavery taught civilizations that it was natural for whites to be on top and blacks to be on the bottom (Loewen, 144).

While I  understand to an extent Loewen's critique in which he bashes textbooks for failing to connect slavery to racism, I can't quite help but argue that he is wrong. Perhaps the connection is rarely explicitly published but I believe that the link is truly a no-brainer. Our ancestors made it okay for races to create a hierarchy, and we are left today with the racism that obviously arose from institutions like slavery. Especially in America, economies revolved around the use of slaves, and when an entire lifestyle is uprooted, the remnants of the past don't simply disintegrate. I do agree with Loewen, however, in his argument that the way racism is taught should be shifted. It would be beneficial for students to see how the ideals behind racism shifted over time. It also would be great if students learned about the types of people who had and who did not have slaves. By giving a fuller picture, a more accurate history is displayed and it is easier to connect the past to the present.

I believe that in my classroom I will focus on presenting racism as a problem that hasn't gone away, and it isn't something that is confined only to problems between blacks and whites. When I teach slavery, I will impress upon my students the reality of an issue that is prevalent even today. I think that current events are important, so clips such as the one found in the following link will be great tools to utilize to connect the past to the present. 2013 Miss America

The Big Question: Can we look towards a society void of racism, or is this problem here to stay?