Why Hard History Matters: Addressing the Legacy of Jim Crow – w/ Rep. Hakeem Jeffries
Teaching Hard History
Learning for Justice
4.2 • 588 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2022
⏱️ 80 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries represents New York's 8th congressional district. Our final episode this season takes us to the U.S. House of Representatives for a conversation between Rep. Jeffries and his brother, our host, Dr. Hasan Jeffries, to discuss the lingering effects of the Jim Crow era—including voter access, prison and policing reform and other enduring injustices—and to discuss the continued relevance of teaching "hard history" as it relates to public policy today.
You can also receive professional development certificates when you listen to LFJ's other education podcasts—Queer America and The Mind Online!
And be sure to visit the enhanced episode transcript for additional classroom resources for teaching about the intersection of sports and race during the Jim Crow era.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The first anti-lynching legislation was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1918, |
| 0:14.1 | but the dire anti-lynching bill was thwarted by a filibuster in the Senate, and during the next |
| 0:18.7 | hundred years, over 200 subsequent legislative efforts failed. |
| 0:24.0 | But on March 29, 2022, President Biden finally signed the Emmett Till Anti-Linching Act into law. |
| 0:31.8 | Just in time. Right? |
| 0:33.3 | I mean, it only took 100 years to see this largely symbolic legislative victory. |
| 0:39.4 | I'm glad a measure finally passed, but it would have been even better to see the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act become law. |
| 0:47.2 | Yes, it's such a frustrating reminder of how many of the issues that we've been talking about from the Jim Crow era are still facing us today in one form or another. |
| 0:57.0 | We see challenges to voter access, equitable representation, prison and policing reform, accurate historical education across the country. |
| 1:06.0 | Wouldn't it be great if we could learn more about how Congress is trying to address these lingering issues today? |
| 1:12.6 | I like the way you think. Let's do it. |
| 1:20.6 | I'm Asan Kwamey Jeffries. |
| 1:23.6 | I'm Bethany Jay. And this is Teaching Hard History. |
| 1:26.6 | We're a production of Learning for Justice, the education arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center. |
| 1:32.3 | This season, we're offering a detailed look at how to teach the history of Jim Crow, starting with Reconstruction. |
| 1:39.3 | In each episode, we explore a different topic, walking you through historical concepts, raising |
| 1:45.6 | questions for discussion, suggesting useful source material, and offering practical classroom |
| 1:50.6 | exercises. As we bring our fourth season to a close, we thought it would be a good time to look |
| 1:56.2 | at how we are dealing with the legacies of the Jim Crow era today. And we're going to do that |
| 2:00.8 | through the lens of public policy. |
| 2:03.6 | I recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to interview Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, |
| 2:09.6 | representative of the 8th Congressional District of New York. |
... |
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