Title: Black History Is About More Than Oppression (Opinion)
Headings: Black History Is About More Than Oppression
Black History Is About More Than Oppression
We keep teaching about Black history, not through it
LaGarrett J. King
Black historical consciousness is a set of principles to understand, develop, and teach Black histories that recognize Black people's full humanity.

Content: For instance, teaching Brown v. Board of Education through Black voices would acknowledge that many Black communities were not in favor of integrating schools, just equity in school funding. Black schools were culturally confirming, relevant, and sustaining. Integration meant transferring Black students to predominately white schools where instructional practices were culturally insensitive and racist. Black schools were closed, and many Black teachers and administrators lost their jobs. Teaching through Black history about the Brown ruling provides a critical assessment of the policy and not the federal government’s moral prerogative of racial progress. We can teach through Black history by adopting what I call Black historical consciousness. Black historical consciousness is a set of principles to understand, develop, and teach Black histories that recognize Black people’s full humanity and emphasize pedagogical practices that reimagine the legitimacy, selection, and interpretation of historical sources. This consciousness should be adopted for creating and sustaining Black history programs. Black historical consciousness consists of six principles and ample examples, some of which may require further research even for history teachers: 1.