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Missing History
"I find myself in this situation a fair amount—not knowing anything about a seemingly significant piece of history because we haven’t covered it in school."
By Janna Kaplan
March 3, 2007
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Youth Radio's Janna Kaplan wonders why the public education system leaves out so much important history from its curriculum.
I would think everyone in Georgia, if not in the entire country, should know at least a little bit about the race riot here in Atlanta in 1906, where mobs of white people killed more than 25 African Americans. But along with most people I know, I had not even heard of this major event until we commemorated the 100th anniversary.
I find myself in this situation a fair amount — not knowing anything about a seemingly significant piece of history because we haven’t covered it in school. Over the years, I’ve realized just how many historical events we’ve barely explored, if not completely skipped in class.
For instance, we talk about Pearl Harbor and World War II, but I have never been in a class that discussed the Japanese internment camps. We learn about the Jewish people who perished during the Holocaust, but we don’t hear about the other 5 million non-Jewish people who were also killed. And though I have studied the civil rights movement every year since Kindergarten, nobody ever mentioned the Atlanta race riot until this year.
I can’t be sure why there are so many historical events we leave out at school. But I think our curriculum needs to include a broader chronicle. We all know the phrase - those who forget history are doomed to repeat it… well, it’s hard forget what we have never been taught.
- Youth Radio Atlanta is produced in cooperation with WABE and funded in part by The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
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