This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to Episode 98 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.

In this episode, we're going to talk about improving the way we teach about slavery.

Every couple of weeks, I hear someone repeat some version of this sentiment.

Slavery ended in 1865. Get over it.

And although I know that this claim is riddled with problems, my ability to adequately refute it is limited.

That's because my education on American slavery, its causes, and its aftermath,

consisted of answering end of chapter textbook questions in grades 5, 8, and 11.

We covered the topic, took a test where we matched Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, and Dred Scott to their one-line descriptions, then moved on.

It was treated as a period of bad behavior in our country's history, behavior that the good guys ultimately put a stop to.

And since then, things have been much better, the end.

In the years that followed, I built a kind of patchwork understanding of slavery through books, college classes, and films.

While every new piece has refined and expanded my understanding of the massive role slavery has played in our history and our contemporary life,

the pieces still feel discreet, never stitched together into a cohesive whole.

I feel like I'm still lacking a lot of information in insight.

Still, if I had never taken that initiative on my own, if I'd stopped learning at graduation, my knowledge of slavery might very well be limited to slavery ended in 1865.

And that's where a lot of people are.

Earlier this year, the Southern Poverty Law Center published a report about how the topic of slavery is being taught in the United States.

The report reveals that most students have significant knowledge gaps when it comes to some of the most basic facts about slavery.

And in many states, social study standards related to slavery are incredibly limited in their scope.

While teachers feel that slavery is an important topic to teach, many of them don't feel that they're adequately prepared or supported to do a thorough job.

To address these problems, the Southern Poverty Law Center, through its website Teaching Tolerance, has put together a comprehensive framework for teaching American slavery,

an outstanding collection of resources and guidelines for history teachers.

...