Entry 3: Rosa Park's Myth and How to Teach Slavery

          The Rosa Park’s Myth article was very interesting to me. I have never really like history as a subject so for the most part I never really put must thought into what I was though through my years of schooling, but the points that were mentioned in the articles definitely gave me a new perspective. Growing up in school, I have always noticed how white washed history in America is. Being African American myself, I have always known that the people who discriminated against African Americans and the people who were being discriminated had very different perspectives.

            I liked how in the article they gave the real details about the important parts that we learn about Rosa Parks in history class. They mention how she was angry and refused to go to the back of the bus because she was this tired woman who had enough, but how that idea of her was wrong. They also mentioned how she was like everyone else when she wasn’t at all. She was actually an extraordinary person that fought for African American rights. These facts I read in this article were never taught to me in school and it makes me question the way our text books make African American seem to white people.
            The podcast about how to teach slavery was also very interesting. One thing that stood out to me was how they included news stories and announcements about how teachers were having African American children roll play slavery. I was even able to remember a few because they have happened so recently. The podcast was important to hear because like they mentioned, slavery is a very hard subject to teach and especially in elementary schools. Since it is black history month, in my student teaching classroom, we have been reading books about several African Americans and slavery always comes up. Even I have to think carefully about what to say and how to say it because certain details, the hard truth, is not something that elementary children can handle, and I think that is also why textbooks are written the way they are written. The truth about slavery and the perspectives of the enslaved are hard for people to accept and talk about.