Black Americans, even those not descendants of American enslaved people, still pay the price of this inequality. White Americans also don’t need to directly descend from slaveholders to benefit from the legacy of this inequality either.
of their content on slavery and civil rights movements. As a Floridian, I’m frustrated knowing that the projects I put on for Black History Month just five years ago, that ignited my love for history, are now illegal in my school. The history of slavery isn’t just African American history – it is U.S. history, and all students need to learn it.
When discussing the legacies of slavery, the goal isn’t necessarily to assign blame. There are no historical slaveholders that are alive now, and their descendants aren’t responsible for this horrific system. However, that doesn’t negate the need to reflect on how this past system continues toto the detriment of some and the benefit of others. Slavery reinforced systems of racial hierarchy that still exist in the U.S. today.
Slavery is an uncomfortable topic for most Americans. For some Americans, it evokes ancestral pain and dehumanization, but also resilience and survival. For others, it brings up feelings of shame and confusing questions of responsibility. Movements demanding reparations are striking a chord with many Americans, leading to contentious discussions. On the local, state and federal levels, there have been efforts to research and propose reparation efforts to address racial injustice, particularly for African Americans. These demands have been met with mixed responses, as some efforts are successful and others are unsuccessful. Uncertainty looms on how to properly address slavery and the legacy of racial injustice — and move forward.
U.S. history is incomplete without reflecting on slavery and its effects, and when we address this history properly, we gain a better understanding of the country’s present and future. When we understand slavery, we can understand present economic conditions across different communities, geographic distributions, the rise of major cities, labor patterns across the country, and the emergence of diverse American cultures, cuisines and traditions.
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