As a student, Black history gave me a sense of pride and belonging in my community, even though my knowledge was nowhere near as expansive as it is today. I knew enough to realize that my future–the person I would become and the life I would lead–was bigger than just me. I knew that my life was part of a lineage, even though I couldn’t quite understand what that meant.
It explained why my parents, my grandparents, and my community were so invested in my academic success. It explained why folks I had never met in my life were invested as well. Lessons on Dr. King, el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, Shirley Chisholm, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Angela Davis, and countless others learned in community centers and church basements gave me a sense of their investment in my academic success and beyond.
Whether my grades were always stellar or not, I was aware that the community was rooting for me. I wouldn’t have understood that without learning Black history. Even though I couldn’t articulate it at the time, I felt it, and it motivated me to excel. A recent study validates what I knew as a child, and what I now fully realize as an educator who studies and writes about Black history: learning one’s own history, as well as the histories of other peoples of color, can lead to improved academic outcomes for our students.
The study–Cultural Relevance at Scale: The Effects of an Ethnic Studies Expansion on Academic Outcomes–published in the American Education Research Journal, examined 24,000 students from grades 6 through 12 in San Francisco’s school district, finding that enrollment in ethnic studies courses significantly increased students’ grade point averages and reduced course failure rates.
The study found that academic gains were made among students of all racial backgrounds, with the strongest gains for Black and Latine students. Also benefiting were male students and students whose academic performance previously was poorer than afterward. Notably, for those who improved academically as a result of taking these courses, the strongest gains were in math and science.
According to the authors of the study:
“Many interventions that show early success face challenges when scaled to new contexts or taught by different educators… Our study demonstrates that [ethnic studies] delivers measurable academic benefits and remains effective even [when] scaled districtwide.”
What does this mean for Black students? It means that any educator who wants them to succeed academically must teach them Black history. It means any parent or member of the community who is invested in the academic success of Black students must teach them Black history, as well as pressure schools to teach Black history. Teach Black children their history, despite what the Trump Administration or any conservative politician threatens to do.
Since the first day of Trump’s second presidency, he has actively engaged in anti-Blackness, from punishing anyone engaged in DEI initiatives and the teaching of Black history to allowing segregation within the federal government. Part of this is to appease his base of voters, whom he’s cultivated by racist rhetoric and anti-Black fear-mongering. The other part is to stifle dissent. Dr. Jarvis Givens tells us that Black History is a critical history to be leveraged “in the pursuit of racial justice, thus rendering a usable history that can inform action.”
For the white power structure, which is invested in anti-Blackness as a tool for oppression, Black history is dangerous because it can be leveraged in the pursuit of racial justice, and historically, that’s exactly what the scholars of Black history have done. Some have entered the policy arena, others have used the power of the pen to challenge the status quo, and others have gone into the streets to apply pressure to power on behalf of the powerless. These actions aren’t desirable for a fascist government.
How is anti-Blackness a tool of the white power structure to repress all, you ask? By casting Black people at the bottom of society and profiting off their economic, political, and cultural exploitation, the status quo is maintained by bribing other people with “privileges” that offer an illusion of protection and power. Meanwhile, this maintains their own exploitation, whereby the power class can always point to Black people as having it worse and the actual threat to their prosperity.
That illusion keeps them at odds with Black folks, explaining why they vote against their own interest in every election.
But learning truth is powerful. For Black people, learning truth is liberating. For oppressors, the oppressed coming into the knowledge of who they actually are versus what they’ve been told is a threat to their power. So, while the data says one thing, the Trump Administration engages in the deconstruction of the administrative state, which runs counter to information gathering and improvements based upon it. What this deconstruction does is defang, if not dismantle, institutions of knowledge and research to dumb down governance and eventually the populace. All to protect power and avoid accountability.
Depending on their location, Black students may not learn Black history in schools. Parents in those places must continue to advocate for their students because they, like white parents who advocate against it, are taxpayers. But maybe more important than that, Black parents and the Black community, wherever they are, must teach Black history in their own spaces; at home and/or in their community.
The ethnic studies study shows what many of us already knew, that Black children learning their history has benefits that will help them achieve even greater academic success. Teaching Black history in and of itself is important. But it is also important for the success of Black children in all areas of their schooling. Sadly, this nation is attempting to take away our political power, access to places and spaces in society, and our equal opportunity for success. We cannot let them. Advocate, educate, and never, ever stop.
