U.S. History: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Summary

The script from 'Last Week Tonight' delves into the importance of accurately teaching American history, highlighting the gaps and biases in education regarding race and slavery. It critiques the lack of national standards, the influence of skewed narratives, and the political nature of historical education. The show emphasizes the need for a comprehensive understanding of history to address current racial inequalities and societal issues.

Takeaways

• 📚 History can be both fascinating and painful, with significant gaps in many people's knowledge, especially about racial issues.
• 🔊 Scientists recreated the voice of an ancient Egyptian mummy using a 3D printer, raising humorous but also poignant questions about our approach to history.
• 🕊️ The murder of George Floyd has reignited national conversations about America's past and present racial issues, highlighting the need to reexamine history.
• 🎓 Many Americans learned about the Tulsa Race Massacre for the first time from the TV show Watchmen, indicating major gaps in historical education.
• 🎉 Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the US, but a recent poll showed that 48% of Americans were not aware of its significance.
• 🗽 Misleading versions of history, such as the myth of George Washington freeing his slaves, contribute to a distorted understanding of America's past.
• 📘 Textbooks and state education standards often omit or misrepresent crucial aspects of history, such as slavery and white supremacy.
• 📝 Some classroom exercises and assignments on slavery have been highly inappropriate and harmful, reflecting broader issues in how history is taught.
• 🔍 The lack of comprehensive national standards for history education leads to significant variations and omissions in what students learn across different states.
• 🗣️ Addressing these gaps and inaccuracies is essential for understanding current racial issues and working towards a more informed and just society.

Q & A

What significant event did the scientists achieve by recreating Nesyamun's mouth and vocal chords with a 3-D printer?

The scientists were able to mimic Nesyamun's voice, producing a single sound, which was a fascinating experiment to imagine what an ancient Egyptian might sound like.

Why has the murder of George Floyd prompted a reexamination of America's past?

George Floyd's murder has forced a hard national conversation about the present state of racial inequality in the U.S., which is impossible to address effectively without understanding the historical context and past injustices.

What is Juneteenth and why is its observance significant?

Juneteenth is an annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S., marking the day Union troops informed Texas that enslaved people must be freed, which is significant as it represents a step towards racial equality.

Why was the decision to hold a rally in Tulsa on June 19th considered tone-deaf?

The decision was tone-deaf because June 19th is Juneteenth, a day commemorating the end of slavery, and Tulsa was the site of one of the nation's worst racial violence outbreaks, the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921.

What is one of the key issues with how U.S. history is taught according to the script?

One of the key issues is the lack of national standards for what topics or figures students must learn about, leading to significant gaps in knowledge and a variation in state standards that often downplay or misrepresent historical events.

How did the script illustrate the problem with some history textbooks' portrayal of slavery?

The script cited examples from old textbooks that either downplayed the horrors of slavery or placed blame on the victims, such as describing slave labor as 'chores' or suggesting that a violent coup was actually a riot started by Black residents.

What is the '1619 Project' and why has it been controversial?

The 1619 Project is an initiative by The New York Times that brings slavery into the forefront of American history. It has been controversial because some, like Senator Tom Cotton, argue that teaching a curriculum based on it could lead to schools losing federal funding.

Why is it important to teach the full history of white supremacy in America?

Teaching the full history of white supremacy is important because it provides a comprehensive understanding of the systemic racism that has shaped the country's past and present, allowing students to see the connections between historical events and current social issues.

What misconception does the script suggest is common in the way U.S. history is taught?

The script suggests that U.S. history is often taught as a smooth, steady upward arc of progress, glossing over periods of white hostility, backsliding, and the ongoing struggle for racial equality.

What is the importance of understanding the full history of the Civil Rights Movement as described in the script?

Understanding the full history of the Civil Rights Movement is important because it shows that the movement was longer, messier, and more radical than commonly portrayed, and that many of its aims were thwarted, providing context for ongoing racial disparities.

How does the script address the issue of teaching an 'American Exceptionalism' narrative?

The script critiques the 'American Exceptionalism' narrative by arguing that it can lead to a distorted and incomplete understanding of history, ignoring the country's struggles with racial injustice and the ongoing impact of those struggles.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Exploring History's Complexity

The opening segment humorously critiques historical experiments, specifically referencing an attempt to recreate the voice of an ancient Egyptian. It transitions into a serious discussion on the recent national conversation about racial history in the U.S., sparked by George Floyd's murder. It highlights gaps in Americans' knowledge of their own history, exemplified by the lack of awareness about Juneteenth and the Tulsa Race Massacre, and criticizes the distortion of historical narratives, particularly around figures like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

05:01

📚 Educational Gaps and Misconceptions

The segment delves into the inadequate and often misleading ways the history of race in America is taught in schools. It points out the lack of national standards and the disparities among state standards regarding slavery and white supremacy. Historical textbooks have often downplayed or misrepresented facts, leading to significant gaps in knowledge. The segment also criticizes the euphemistic language used in current textbooks and the problematic classroom exercises that trivialize slavery.

10:04

🏫 Faulty Historical Narratives

This section discusses how incomplete and skewed historical narratives are perpetuated in schools. It includes examples of tone-deaf assignments and classroom exercises that trivialize slavery, and notes that many teachers, being white, might unintentionally pass on the same biased perspectives they were taught. The segment emphasizes the lasting impact of these educational shortcomings, using a personal anecdote from a Tulsa resident who only learned about the 1921 massacre much later in life.

15:05

📅 Historical Oversights and Misrepresentations

The discussion here focuses on the often overlooked or misrepresented periods of American history. It highlights the backsliding and hostility that occurred between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, including the violent Wilmington coup of 1898. The segment critiques the tendency to gloss over these periods, leading to a sanitized version of history that ignores the continuous struggle against white supremacy.

20:07

📈 Connecting Past and Present

The final segment connects historical events to present-day issues, emphasizing the importance of understanding the historical roots of current racial inequalities. It discusses how systemic racism has evolved over time, citing the economic and social disparities that persist. The segment also addresses the importance of teaching an accurate and comprehensive history to provide context for understanding ongoing racial issues, arguing against the notion of an 'American Exceptionalism' that overlooks historical wrongs.

25:08

🔍 The Importance of Accurate History

The concluding segment reinforces the need for better historical education, criticizing the current focus on American exceptionalism that ignores the country's history of white supremacy. It highlights the importance of understanding history to improve the present, using the words of John Lewis and Morgan Freeman to emphasize the enduring struggle for justice and equality. The segment ends on a hopeful note, advocating for continued education and awareness to address historical injustices.

Keywords

💡Nesyamun

Nesyamun is an ancient Egyptian priest whose voice was recreated by scientists using a 3-D printer to mimic his mouth and vocal chords. This example serves as an introduction to the theme of historical exploration and the innovative ways we can engage with the past, as it demonstrates how technology can bring historical figures to 'life' and answer age-old questions about what they might have sounded like.

💡George Floyd

George Floyd was an African American man whose murder by a police officer sparked global protests and reignited conversations about racial injustice and police brutality in the United States. His name is central to the video's theme as it highlights the ongoing struggle for racial equality and the need to reexamine America's past to understand its present.

💡Juneteenth

Juneteenth is an annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The script mentions the lack of awareness about this significant date among many Americans, illustrating the gaps in historical knowledge and the importance of recognizing and teaching about pivotal moments in the nation's racial history.

💡Tulsa Race Massacre

The Tulsa Race Massacre refers to one of the most devastating outbreaks of racial violence in American history, which occurred in 1921. The video script uses this event to underscore the lack of historical education on racial atrocities and the need to incorporate such incidents into the national narrative to foster a more comprehensive understanding of the past.

💡White Supremacy

White supremacy is the belief in the inherent superiority of the white race, which has had profound and lasting effects on American society and history. The script discusses the need to acknowledge and teach the history of white supremacy in the United States, as it is an integral part of the country's past and continues to influence the present.

💡1619 Project

The 1619 Project is a New York Times initiative that aims to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the national narrative. The video mentions the controversy surrounding this project, highlighting the resistance to changing the traditional narrative and the importance of an inclusive historical perspective.

💡Filibuster

The filibuster is a political tactic used in the U.S. Senate to delay or block a vote on legislation. The script refers to former President Obama's call to abolish the filibuster if necessary to expand voting rights, illustrating the ongoing struggle for political representation and the historical tools that can be used to either protect or hinder democratic progress.

💡John Lewis

John Lewis was a civil rights leader and U.S. Representative known for his role in the struggle for racial equality in the 1960s. The video script honors his legacy by discussing his commitment to voting rights and the importance of continuing the fight for justice, showing how historical figures can inspire present and future actions.

💡Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses used by African American slaves to escape to freedom. The script humorously points out the misconceptions about who would have participated in the Underground Railroad, emphasizing the need for accurate historical education and the complexity of historical actions.

💡Redlining

Redlining refers to the discriminatory practice of denying services, such as loans or insurance, to residents of certain areas, typically based on race. The video script uses redlining as an example of systemic racism that has shaped American housing and neighborhoods, connecting past policies to present-day racial disparities.

💡Lee Atwater

Lee Atwater was a Republican political strategist known for his controversial tactics, including the use of racially coded language in political campaigns. The script cites his 1981 interview to illustrate the evolution of dog-whistle politics in the United States, showing how racial appeals have been subtly integrated into political strategies over time.

Highlights

Scientists successfully mimic an ancient Egyptian's voice using a 3-D printed replica of his mouth and vocal chords.

George Floyd's murder prompts a reexamination of America's past and the gaps in historical knowledge among Americans.

The president's rally in Tulsa on Juneteenth reveals a lack of awareness about the holiday and the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Many Americans learn about historical events like the Tulsa Race Massacre from television shows rather than education.

Polls show a significant portion of Americans are unaware of Juneteenth, highlighting the need for better historical education.

Joy Behar's misunderstanding of George Washington's relationship with slavery exemplifies common misconceptions about history.

The teaching of history is political, with textbooks often downplaying the role of slavery and racial violence.

There are no national standards for history education, leading to widely varying state standards and historical understanding.

Some state standards omit slavery and white supremacy, instead focusing on state's rights as a cause of the Civil War.

Historical education often fails to address the ongoing legacy of slavery and racial inequality in America.

Teachers play a critical role in shaping historical understanding, but may rely on outdated or inadequate materials.

Tone-deaf classroom assignments and exercises can perpetuate misconceptions and cause emotional harm to students.

The overwhelming majority of schoolteachers are white, which may contribute to the perpetuation of skewed historical narratives.

Incomplete or sanitized historical education can leave adults unaware of significant events and their ongoing impacts.

Historians argue for a more comprehensive teaching of history that acknowledges white supremacy and its ongoing effects.

The Constitution's link to slavery and racial inequality should be taught as part of its revolutionary legacy.

History education should not gloss over the complexities and setbacks in the fight for civil rights and racial equality.

The Civil Rights Movement was more radical and faced more opposition than is commonly taught in schools.

Economic justice was a central part of the Civil Rights Movement, not just social equality.

Racial disparities in wages, wealth, housing, and education persist, reflecting historical injustices.

Teaching history accurately helps students understand current events and the need for ongoing societal improvement.

John Lewis's legacy emphasizes the importance of learning from history to address present challenges.

Transcripts

♪ ("LAST WEEK TONIGHT" THEME PLAYS) ♪

Moving on. Our main story tonight concerns history.

A subject so fascinating, we're sometimes willing to do

crazy experiments like this:

REPORTER: Scientists were able to mimic Nesyamun's voice

by recreating his mouth and vocal chords

with a 3-D printer.

It allowed them to produce a single sound.

(MURMURING)

Excellent. Finally an answer to the question

that scholars have asked for ages,

"What would an ancient Egyptian sound like,

if he orgasmed while taking anti-depressants?"

But look, sadly, history isn't always fun,

weird mummy ventriloquy. It can be painful too.

As America, has recently been reminded.

Because George Floyd's murder has forced

a hard national conversation about this country's present,

which is impossible to do effectively

without reexamining it's past.

And unfortunately, that's not a conversation

that all American's are well-equipped to have.

Because there are some embarrassing gaps

in many people's knowledge of US history.

Just look what happened a few weeks back

when the president, in the midst of

nation-wide Black Lives Matter protests,

announced plans to hold a rally in Tulsa, on June 19th.

A decision, astonishingly tone-deaf,

for two key reasons.

NBC REPORTER: Next Friday, June 19th, is Juneteenth,

an annual holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the US.

As for Tulsa, 99 years ago this month, in 1921,

the city witnessed the Tulsa Race Massacre.

One of the nation's worst outbreaks of racial violence.

Recently portrayed in HBO's Watchmen.

-(PEOPLE SCREAMING) -(AIRPLANE ENGINE ROARING)

Now, the reason they're mentioning Watchmen there,

is a lot of Americans learned about the Tulsa Race Massacre

for the very first time, nearly a century

after it happened, from watching that show.

Basically, the night that episode airs,

many white Americans went, "Holy shit, I had no idea

this happened!" While, many Black Americans went,

"Holy shit, white people are gonna freak the fuck out

when they find out this happened."

"Debbie at work, is gonna want to have a conversation."

The coverage of that Trump rally didn't just introduce

many Americans to that massacre,

but also, to the very concept of Juneteenth.

The day that commemorates when Union troops informed Texas

that enslaved people there must finally be freed,

two years after the Emancipation Proclamation

by the way.

A recent poll shows that a shocking 48 percent

of Americans were either "Not at all" or,

"Not very aware" of Juneteenth, which is not good!

I mean, it'd be fine if nearly half of Americans were

unaware of Groundhog Day, the meaningless date

when an idiot dressed like goth Willy Wonka,

holds up a non-clairvoyant woodchuck,

whose face, somehow screams, "I have better things to do."

But Juneteenth actually means something.

And that's just one of many gaps in knowledge

that some are now realizing that they have.

Just watch Joy Behar try to explain

why statues of George Washington should be left alone,

and in doing so, actually learning something.

The George Washington, besides being a founding father

and a great general and somebody

who was so instrumental in this union that we have,

in this republic, also freed his slaves.

So, if you're gonna take somebody down,

take down Thomas Jefferson, who didn't free his slaves,

No? Sunny disagrees.

He didn't free his slaves.

He actually spent the last year of his life,

relentlessly pursuing slaves

that tried to run away.

He was a horrible slave owner.

Yeah, he was. As usual, Sunny Hostin is very right,

and Meghan McCain, is very there.

Because, while Washington did promise to free his slaves

in his will, it specified, they wouldn't gain their freedom

until his wife's death. So, only one person was freed

immediately after Washington died,

out of a hundred. Also, he actually became a slave owner

at just eleven years old.

A fact so horrifying, it's kind of hard to know

what to do with it. At the very least,

the story of him chopping down a cherry tree as a child

and admitting it to his father by saying "I cannot tell a lie,"

gets way less charming, if the next part is

his parents saying, "Thank you for being honest George.

As a reward, here are some human beings to own."

And the thing is, Joy Behar's version of history,

while distorted, is definitely more palatable

especially for white people. And seeking out

misleadingly comforting versions of history, is a pattern

that we've seen again and again this year.

From the number one movie on Netflix

during the protests following George Floyd's murder

being The Help, to just last week

when Senator Tom Cotton said schools should lose

federal funding if they teach a curriculum based on

The New York Times' 1619 Project,

which brings slavery into the forefront

of American history. And perhaps the most absurd disconnect was,

in the wake of President Obama's eulogy for John Lewis this week,

in which Obama advocated for abolishing the filibuster

if necessary to expand voting rights,

Tucker Carlson had this to say.

Imagine if some greasy politician showed up

at your loved one's funeral, and started throwing around

stupid partisan talking points about Senate procedure.

Can you imagine that? You would be shocked

if that happened. You'd probably walk out.

Desecrating a funeral with campaign slogans?

What kind of person would do that?

Wait, what kind of person would honor a friend's legacy

by continuing to advocate for voting rights?

You know what, I can think of one.

John fucking Lewis would do that.

And the truth is, with so many people misunderstanding

our history, either by accident, or, very much on purpose,

we thought tonight, it might be a good idea

to talk about how the history of race in America,

is currently taught in schools.

What some of the gaps are, why they're there,

and how we can fill them. And let's start with the fact,

that there are no national standards for what topics

or figures, students must learn about at school.

And state standards very widely.

When CBS looked into it this year, it found

seven states do not directly mention slavery

in their state standards, only two mention white supremacy

while 16 list state's rights as a cause of the Civil War.

And, we actually did a whole 21-minute piece about

what is wrong with that argument but this clip explains it

significantly quicker.

NARRATOR: The root cause of the Civil War is clear.

-What caused the Civil War was-- -Slavery.

The main cause, and why the South decided to secede

-was for-- -Slavery.

NARRATOR: So why do our history textbooks,

get it so wrong?

Y'all don't wanna deal with the (CENSORED) up (CENSORED)

that y'all ancestors did.

Yeah. I mean, that pretty much sums it up.

And it can be hard to deal with what your ancestors did.

Trust me, I'm British!

One of our most famous tourist attractions is a castle

where we executed people for centuries,

and is now filled with stolen jewels,

like the Koh-I-Noor diamond, which,

according to the Tower's website was presented to Queen Victoria.

And that verb is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

It was "presented," in pretty much the same way that India was,

in so much as it was present, and Britain, fucking took it.

And for all the current handwringing about how

any changes would politicize US history,

it's worth remembering, that the teaching of it

has always been political.

After the Civil War, the battle over how history would be told

in textbooks was intense. Because, you know the saying,

"History is written by the winners"?

The South set out to prove that wrong.

One organization, called

"The United Daughters of the Confederacy," campaigned

for schools to adopt textbooks that would

"accord full justice to the South."

Telling librarians to write, "Unjust to the South,"

on the ones that didn't. Which is clearly absurd.

It would be like a librarian writing, "Unjust to Voldemort,"

on Harry Potter one through seven.

Or, "Unjust to whale," on Moby Dick.

Or, "Unjust to L. Ron Hubbard," on Leah Remini's

Trouble Maker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology.

But that impulse, to downplay the horrors of slavery,

has marked how school children have learned about it,

ever since. A Georgia textbook from the fifties claimed,

"The master often had a barbecue or a picnic for his slaves.

Then, they had a great frolic."

And look, every excuse for slavery is shitty,

but, "We gave them sandwiches sometimes,"

has to be one of the shittiest.

And some who learned history from books like those,

couldn't believe what they were being told at the time.

Just watch this Alabama schoolteacher,

revisit her fourth grade textbook, Know Alabama.

"Some slaves were good workers and very obedient.

Many took pride in what they did,

and loved their cabins and the plantation."

As if they actually owned them.

"Others were lazy, disobedient, and sometimes vicious."

I wonder what kind of slave I would have been?

I wonder if I would have been one of those lazy slaves

who just were not willing to work for nothing.

Or disobedient because I just didn't want to be a slave.

Yeah, that contempt, is fully merited there.

Because among other things, the idea that being

a "lazy slave," was a character flaw,

as opposed to, a frequent act of protest against

a brutally unjust system, is infuriating.

And it makes Know Alabama sound less like the title

of that textbook, and more like something

you'd yell at it. "No Alabama! Stop that!

Bad textbook, no!"

And those passages were in the standard Alabama history

textbook, into the seventies. So people who read them,

and may have been shaped by their content,

are now in their fifties doing things like

running businesses or, I don't know,

holding elected office.

And while newer textbooks may not be

quite that egregious, there are still problems.

Earlier this year, one historian flagged

a pretty remarkable euphemism, in a current Texas schoolbook.

IBRAM KENDI: This is a picture and the caption says,

"Some US settlers brought slaves to Texas

to help work the fields and do chores."

And, you know, I don't think we should describe,

slave labor as chores.

Yeah, you're right, we probably shouldn't.

Calling slave labor chores, is a euphemism on par

with calling Hitler a best-selling author

with a side hustle. Or, JFK's assassination

a bad hair day, or this, a comedy show.

And look, state standards and textbooks are just

a baseline here. What happens in a classroom largely depends

on teachers, who have a very difficult job,

often working with scant resources,

meaning that among other things, they may not be able to get

updated versions of textbooks. And some work really hard

to correct poor materials. But others, can actually

make things even worse, with tone-deaf assignments,

and classroom exercises that you may be familiar with,

from seeing local news stories like these.

REPORTER 2: This is the activity in question.

It asks students to choose to be a slave or a slave owner.

And then a write-in journal entry

that describes daily activities before the Civil War.

REPORTER 3: The question about slavery read...

(READS PROMPT)

REPORTER 4: This North Carolina grandmother

couldn't believe the assignment given to her fourth grader.

GRANDMOTHER: And this game is called "Escaping Slavery."

REPORTER 4: A slavery-themed Monopoly-like game

students played in elementary school.

Children worked in small groups, got this freedom punch card

if the group ran into trouble, the card said

they'd be severely punished and sent back

to the plantation to work as a slave.

GRANDMOTHER: What, are they gonna hang 'em?

Are they gonna kill 'em?

What the fuck are you doing there?

You can't reduce a person's freedom from slavery

down to what is basically a Jimmy Johns punch card.

And just imagine what it would feel like

to be a Black kid in that classroom.

Or, if you don't have to imagine, remember.

Because it's not just the history that hurts here.

It's how you've been made to feel while you learn it.

And the frequency to which stories like those

tend to crop up, may have something

to do with the fact that the overwhelming majority

of schoolteachers are white, and many may have grown up

learning the same skewed version of history

that they are now passing on.

And when you take all of this together,

we're giving kids incomplete educations

in history, while also doing real harm.

Because those kids grow up.

Just listen to this guy from Tulsa

explaining how he felt when he finally found out

about that 1921 massacre that happened where he lived.

When I went to OU in 1998, I was sitting in a class

for African American History, and the professor

was talking about this place where Black people

had businesses, and had money, and had doctors and lawyers,

and he said it was in Tulsa. And I-- I raised my hand

and I said, "No, I'm from Tulsa."

-(CROWD LAUGHING) -"That's not accurate."

And he was talking about this massacre, riots...

And man, what are you talking about?

I said I went to school on Greenwood,

I've never heard of this ever.

That's terrible. And his school really

let him down there. Think of the emotional whiplash

that man must have gone through. He found out something

amazing that once existed, right where he lived.

Something horrible had taken it away,

and that the history had been kept from him.

And all of this had happened less than 100 years ago.

The dinosaurs died 65 million years ago,

and you would still be absolutely floored

if someone only just told you about them.

"I'm sorry, there were what? Where?

What do you mean everywhere? And they were how big?

Some of them could fly? What happened to them?

Oh, no! How the fuck is this

the first time someone's mentioning this to me?!"

Look, it is pretty clear that we need to upgrade

the way that we teach our history.

And while I obviously don't have time

to go through all of that history right now,

it might be worth going slowly through three big mistakes

that many historians believe that we make,

and should correct, in schools and beyond.

The first is that we don't fully acknowledge

the history of white supremacy in America.

From its founding to the present day.

And I know that anytime someone suggests

telling children anything less than Jesus would have been

best friends with Abraham Lincoln,

the push back is fierce. Watch Laura Ingraham

take one school board's discussion

of an anti-racist curriculum, and spin it out

into a dystopian vision designed to terrify her viewers.

Now every subject, every extra-curricular activity

will be perverted to turn your kids

into mini Ilhan Omars. They're gonna learn

that capitalism is racist, history,

as conventionally taught, is racist.

Literature, most of that's racist.

Patriotic songs, racist. And the Declaration

and the Constitution, of course they're racist.

Are you sensing a theme here?

Now, Laura Ingraham might not seem like

someone capable of following anything,

apart from Black teenagers simply trying to shop at CVS.

But I think she actually has picked up on a theme there.

Because seeing as she brought up

the Constitution, let's talk about it.

Because that document is a lot of things,

genuinely revolutionary, and the foundation

of an improbably long-lived democracy.

But it's also infused with, and inextricably linked

to slavery, and a legacy of racial inequality.

From the three-fifths clause, to the fugitive slave cause.

The constitution both codified slavery,

and made it harder for individuals to escape it.

And the fact the Constitution is infused with racism

does not mean it's canceled. It's not a YouTuber

who's just now realized it was wrong to do black face

for 14 years. And it definitely doesn't mean

that kids shouldn't learn about it.

But they should be taught to see it

as an imperfect document with imperfect authors,

who both extolled the ideas of freedom for all,

while at the same time, codifying slavery.

And that is possible to do. Kids can understand

that things can be racist and also other things.

The Constitution can be revolutionary, and also racist.

Movies can be romantic and also racist.

Children's books can be charming,

and also racist.

Broadcasters can be incredibly successful

and also racist.

And if kids are taught an incomplete history,

they'll either never get the full story,

or when they do, they don't have the framework

to understand how the pieces fit together.

Here is one professor explaining how hard

it can be for his students learning the whole truth

about Thomas Jefferson.

What that child's then gonna do, is say, "Wait a minute,

why didn't I know this before? I've been running around here

singing Thomas Jefferson's praises,

and I didn't realize that he's the R. Kelly

of his time."

REPORTER 5: So while it may be uncomfortable,

he says you have to be honest.

I-- I swear Ohio didn't suffer from Underground Railroad-itis,

right? You ask if--

Who would have been-- Who would have been

for the Underground Railroad, right, in class?

And every-- every white hand goes up.

I'm like, look, if all of y'all would have

been down for the Underground Railroad...

that (CENSORED) wouldn't have been underground, right?

There would have been no need for it.

Okay, first of all, it says a lot about Jefferson

that if you went back in time,

explained to him who R. Kelly was,

and told him he was being compared to him,

the child pornography charges would not be

the number one reason that he'd be insulted

by the comparison. But that professor

makes a really good point there. The less you know

about history, the easier that it is

to imagine you'd always be on the right side of it.

Because the truth it, the history of America

is a history of change in America

that badly does not want to be changed.

And that actually brings us to the second common mistake

that we make...

Too often, U.S. History is reduced

down to, there was slavery, uh, then there was a Civil War,

then there wasn't slavery anymore,

then there was the Civil Rights movement,

then there wasn't racism anymore.

Just a smooth, steady upward arc.

But the moment on either side of those landmark eras

complicate the hell out of that arc.

Because they were filled with white hostility,

and ugly backsliding.

Take the century between the end of the Civil War,

and the Civil Rights act, which is often glossed over,

which should probably be taught a lot more thoroughly.

Begins with reconstruction, a dozen or so years

of real promise when very basically,

the South was forced to redraw their constitutions

and permit the registration of Black voters.

That's right, Black men in the south

were voting in the 1860's and '70s.

When they fought for the voting rights act

in the 1960's, they were fighting

to get back something that they already had.

The effects of reconstruction were almost immediate,

with an estimated 2,000 Black men

serving in elected office during that era.

Including a number in Congress. And just look at these guys.

A-plus achievements, A-plus-plus facial hair there.

And sure, you might think you can grow

your mustache into a beard, try it.

You fucking can't.

But in response to that progress,

white people pushed back and pushed back hard.

The KKK was founded, 2,000 Black people were lynched,

and by 1877, the South had regained

local control. Here is a crazy story

that you might not know. In 1898,

the multiracial city government in Wilmington, North Carolina,

became the target of...

In which a mob of up to 2,000 armed white men

killed at least 60 Black residents,

and replaced the city's alderman with white supremacists.

And if this is the first time that you are learning

about the only coup on American soil,

you're not alone! Because what happened there

is usually either not taught at all,

or, as the author of a book on that massacre points out,

taught very, very misleadingly.

Here's from a 1949 textbook. Quote,

"A number of Blacks were jailed for starting a riot

and a new white administration took over

Wilmington's government," end quote.

Yeah, that's it. And that is not just

denying what happened, it's even worse,

it's placing the blame for it on the victims.

Technically, you shouldn't even call it a history book,

so much as...

And Wilmington wasn't even the midpoint

of that century of backsliding.

And the Laura Ingraham's of the world

will probably say, "Yeah, that's all ugly,

but, in a sign of American exceptionalism,

the Civil Rights movement ended all of that

when Martin Luther King's dream came true."

And that is the version that most Americans

are taught in school, but it leaves a lot out.

In fact, take the March on Washington.

That wasn't actually its full name,

it was called the March on Washington

for Jobs and Freedom. And the economic justice

part of it was front-and-center.

King actually grew more outspoken about that issue

in the years that followed. And King himself understood

why it was harder to make progress on that front.

It didn't cost the nation one penny

to integrate lunch counters.

(CROWD CHATTING IN AGREEMENT)

It didn't cost the nation one penny to guarantee

the right to vote!

Now we are dealing with issues that cannot be solved

without the nation spending billions of dollars,

and undergoing a radical redistribution

of economic power!

Yeah, it turns out that Martin Luther King

had more than one dream. And one of them

was about wealth redistribution. So while I know

it's easy to distort King's full legacy

down to that one soaring speech,

point to the cast of This is Us,

and say, "See, we did it everyone,

everything is fixed now."

The truth is, the Civil Rights Movement

was longer, messier, more radical, and crucially,

was thwarted in more of its aims

than many of us were taught in school.

And that actually brings us to the final point here,

which is that...

And those dots are very much there.

Look at the black-white wage and wealth gaps.

They are both larger now than they were

when King gave that speech. And our housing

and education systems even in liberal cities,

like New York and L.A. are still shamefully segregated.

And if you don't teach history properly,

all you see is those effects, and not the causes.

When the truth is, you can draw a straight line

from the post-Civil War return of plantation land

to former Confederates, through the massive transfers

of land via the Homestead Act,

mostly to white individuals, through the growth

of the suburbs in the 20th century, where,

redlining kept Black people from moving

into white neighborhoods throughout the country.

In fact, just listen to this woman

in Levittown, Pennsylvania, explain her objections

to a Black family moving to town

in 1957, with some real honesty.

We liked the advantages that Levittown seem to offer

in comparison to other cities, and we understood that

it was gonna be all white.

We're very happy to buy a home here.

INTERVIEWER: Do you think a negro family moving here

will affect the community as a whole?

Definitely.

The whole trouble with this integration business is

that in the end,

it probably will end up with mixing socially.

And you will have--

Well, I think their aim is mixed marriages

and becoming equal with the whites.

Wow.

It is always weird to hear someone,

whether or not they look like summer casual Betty Crocker,

frame human beings being treated equally as a negative.

It's like hearing someone say,

"The whole trouble with putting graham crackers, chocolate bars,

and marshmallows together is that we might end up

with s'mores." Yeah! Exactly. That's a good thing.

Only a monster wouldn't want that.

And it might not surprise you to see that someone

was incredibly racist in the 1950s.

But one of the problems with the way that we teach history

is that too often it sort of trails off

after the civil rights movement, and when you skip over

the past half century, you don't get to see

the protests by which white supremacy,

instead of disappearing, merely adapted.

And perhaps nobody made that protest clearer than

Lee Atwater, a top Republican campaign strategist

who worked for, among others, Ronald Reagan

and George H.W. Bush.

Here he is spelling out the whole game in 1981,

and I'm gonna warn you, you're about to hear

the N-word a lot.

Holy shit.

Now, obviously he's a little too comfortable with that word.

You tend to only hear it come out that smoothly

in either Tarantino movies or online forums in which

white children play video games together.

But that is a pretty concise history

of a certain thread in politics for the past half century.

Which brings us all the way up to the present day,

literally the present Wednesday which is when

the president of the United States,

in announcing a rollback of an Obama era rule under

the Fair Housing Act, sent a tweet in which

he informed...

And that is basically a campaign promise crafted by Lee Atwater

and designed to win over this woman who's probably dead

by now, and what's notable there is not that Trump's being racist

which is not remotely surprising.

It's how neatly he fits in to a systemic racism

that's been baked into this country from the beginning

and which will still be here when he is gone.

And if kids aren't taught this, what chance do they have

to understand what's happening right now?

And obviously, you'd need to calibrate to each age group.

No one is suggesting playing that Lee Atwater tape

to third graders, but it's a bit like sex ed.

You don't skip ahead to ejaculation,

which, by the way, is a pretty good sex tip

for anyone with a penis, but we also don't spend

the first semester of sex ed teaching kids

that we all dropped out of the sky by fucking storks

because they'll later have to unlearn that.

And I know that addressing mistakes like these

will not be easy.

There'll be bad faith charges that doing so is political,

although I would argue no more political than

the choices we've made to teach history

the way that we do now.

And, no doubt, some parents will instinctively resist this.

Back in 2010 when Texas was reviewing

its state's standards, one parent made it very clear

that the main history he wanted his kids taught

was that of "American Exceptionalism."

The one thing I want my kids to know

when they get out of school about America

is that the worst day in America

beats the best day in any other country.

(APPLAUSE)

That seems pretty easy.

It seems like it becomes this great focus

on the negative history of America.

Instead of saying, okay for instance, slavery.

Instead of--

You know, looking at it in a positive light

that Americans overcame something as evil as slavery,

and that we're still a great nation today

should be a testament to the kind of American spirit

that exists in this country.

Okay. So, there's a lot to unpack there.

First, you're worst day in America really depends on

who you are and importantly when you are.

There's a reason, for instance, Marty McFly was white.

Because Black people don't generally hang around

with John C. Calhoun look-alikes who are obsessed with

going back to the 1950s.

And second, Americans did not overcome slavery.

Certain Americans overcame certain other Americans

and slavery was ended, but whether it was overcome

is very much another matter.

And, look, while I understand any parent wanting their kids

to be taught something inspiring,

what he's essentially asking for there

is for his kids to be misinformed

and that's not gonna serve them well when they grow up.

It's not gonna serve any of us well

because ignoring the history you don't like

is not a victimless act, and a history of America

that ignores white supremacy is a white supremacist history

of America which matters.

Because while it might seem obvious, history isn't over yet.

It's still being written.

And you know who understood that?

John Lewis. He's someone who's very much a part of

American history, and he knew the importance of

drawing a line from the past through the present.

That might be why one of the last things he did

before he died was visit Black Lives Matter Plaza

in Washington.

He even wrote an op-ed to be published posthumously,

which speaks directly to what we've been talking about tonight.

Just listen to this extract read by Morgan Freeman.

MORGAN FREEMAN: You must also study and learn

the lessons of history because humanity has been involved

in this soul-wrenching existential struggle

for a very long time.

People on every continent has stood in your shoes.

Through decades and centuries before you.

The truth does not change, and that is why the answers

worked out long ago can help you find solutions

to the challenges of our time.

Exactly.

History, when taught well, shows us how

to improve the world.

But history when taught poorly falsely claims

there is nothing to improve,

so we have to teach it better and continue to learn it

because it's important for all of us to listen to

the voices of history whether they are

a call to action, truly horrific,

or a sad mummy orgasm.

(MURMURING)

Still excellent.

That's our show. Thank you so much for watching.

We're off next week. Back August 16th. Good night.