How Black History has been taught in Alabama over the years

Yahoo

28-02-2025

(WHNT) — The history of Black people in Alabama is long, but for decades the teaching of that history was distorted and far from complete.
Consider this from the 1970 edition of the 4th-grade history textbook 'Know Alabama' 3rd edition:
'Most black people probably did not like being in the system of slavery,' according to the textbook. 'Most wanted their freedom. However, all but the most intelligent made the best of the situation and seemed to be fairly content.'
A review of one copy of the textbook shows it was assigned as recently as 1981 in Huntsville.
Other lessons left Black History unspoken.
'There were no Blacks in the books I had in school,' recalls Decatur-based author and historian Peggy Allen Towns. 'Other than there was a story about slaves who built the old state bank building bringing the columns there, from Trinity on ox carts.'
Camille Bennett recalls what happened when she pushed for a Black History Month program at her Shoals high school in 1995.
'I went to all of the teachers and the principal and made a demand, 'Hey, we deserve Black History Month,'' Bennett tells News 19. 'One of the things that happened is they gave it to us, but they did it in a harmful way. So, in our library they put up one picture of I think it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and had us all walk through the library and were like, 'There's your Black History Month.'
Bennett said after that event her mother pushed the school system for an actual Black History Month program and it was established, but it was after she had graduated.
Towns, who attended segregated school in Decatur, says Black History is obviously American history – but not enough has been shared.
'That has inspired me to tell the rest of our story. I saw these gaps and these holes that needed filling, because when you actually look at, just my hometown's history, there were no black people,' she said. 'Dr. Sterrs, the first African American doctor here in Decatur established the first hospital in Decatur. He established the first nursing school in Decatur.'
Ocie Maddox Jr., who hosts the Black History Facts show on WHRP, said he learned Black History at home. He remembers a visit from a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman.
'They're selling you the encyclopedias and of course my Mom and Dad are going through those, they couldn't find anything,' Maddox tells News 19. 'It wasn't that we didn't have the money to buy them, but there was no type of content about us in 1969, 1970, 71. So with that, they lost sales.'
But history wasn't lost.
'Guess what we retained that as a young black family, because we still had those living members of our family, as well as others who were still living at that time,' Maddox Jr. said. 'You can get it at home, you can also throw these beautiful weekend events on the patio where they would come from out of town and talk about what life was like living in the downtown area of Huntsville.
Alabama students heard other lessons. Here's how the 1970 edition of 'Know Alabama' described the Ku Klux Klan.
'Many Alabama white men believed that they could not depend on the laws nor the new state government. They wanted to get the government back into the hands of men they felt knew how to run it.' The passage continues, 'It happened that at this time a band of white-robed figures appeared on the streets of Pulaski, Tenn … soon other robed bands were seen all over the south, including Alabama. The organization became known as the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan sometimes used violence and fear so that Alabama might be rid of the 'carpetbaggers,' 'scalawags,' and freedmen.'
Camille Bennett has led the protests to remove the confederate monument in Florence. She is a childcare center owner and Executive Director of Project Say Something in Florence, the group's aims include stopping anti-black racism. History lessons are vital, she says.
'It needs to be taught because it is history,' she said. 'If you talk about the Civil War, which Alabama loves to talk about and omit slavery …'
Clearly, there is far more to that history.
'We're in Alabama,' she said. 'Do people understand how much rich history is here? I think people need to learn about the Freedom Riders, they need to learn about the Children's March that ended segregation, that happened in Birmingham, Alabama. They need to understand the brutality of such movements, the brutality of Bloody Sunday, how did we get here.'
Alabama's social studies requirements approved in 2010 include more material on slavery, Jim Crow laws and significant figures in state history. But recently Alabama has also grappled with squaring the teaching of history amid some legislators' calls for not teaching 'divisive concepts.'
Maddox Jr. says there is plenty of under-recognized local history to consider.
'There's a place for statues, OK, of the confederates,' he said. 'Why can't there be a place for when Dr. Martin Luther King came to Huntsville? He spoke at the Oakwood Church, his first installment of the 'I Have a Dream' speech. Why not talk about Mr. Dredd Scott? He lived right on the campus of Oakwood University as a slave.'
Peggy Towns says her mother's favorite phrase still resonates.
'If you don't know where you've been, you'll never know where you're going.' And so, it was imperative to her to share black history with us,' she recalls. 'I just remember some of the stories and it wasn't just Black History in that sense. She would share poems with us, Paul Laurence Dunbar, ''LIAS! 'Lias! Bress de Lawd, Don' you know de day's erbroad?'' those kinds of things she would share with us, I guess to give us a sense of who we were.'
Maddox Jr. says Black History has also been misread and misrepresented, great achievements buried
'We've been hearing over the past what 150 and something odd years, since 1863. Amendments 13 through 15 that were added to the Constitution,' he said. 'Black people didn't add that. What ended up happening, was that Frederick Douglass stood up and did his profound speech, that you'll find online. He said, 'We don't want any handouts, we want liberty.''
Members of Congress promised 40 acres and a mule to freed slaves, a limited version of what had been given some immigrants from Europe, that effort died.
'Well, what happened? Black Americans after slavery bought and obtained over 77 million acres, that they bought themselves,' Maddox Jr. said.
But through Jim Crow laws, brutal crimes and closed courts and banks, much of that land was ultimately lost, taken.
Towns fears the political misinformation and lies will continue to harm people. But Black History is a story of profound resilience.
'Our stories are not always glamorous, our stories are not all that we want them to be but they're still our stories and I believe unless we stand on our truth, we're lying,' she said.
She also believes in the power of history to inspire new dreams.
'Booker T. Washington with 50 cents and a dream,' she said. 'Mae Jemison with a dream to be an astronaut, when her teacher told her she couldn't be. Ruby Bridges with a dream just to go to a school near her house. So, I'll be talking about dreams, and then your dreams, because all of us can achieve dreams. If we dream it and if we work hard to make it happen. So, during Black History Month and again, it's America's history. And all of us as individuals should be able to stand tall and recognize that we are all a part of this fabric.'
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