Of Black Revolutionaries and Whig Histories: Using Assata in the Classroom

Abstract

MOST STUDENTS IN MY history classes today have, I am delighted to say, a basic knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement. Both black and white students know the names of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. They are aware of the bus boycotts and Brown v. Board and have heard King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at least annually. Those from predominantly black neighborhoods know a few more names and events. This reflects the success of a generation of historians who have tried to bring textbooks up to date, identify structures that contributed to social and civic inequality, and discuss history—at least occasionally—from the bottom up. Despite these efforts, however, or perhaps as the price for inclusion into the mainstream narrative, the Civil Rights Movement has been taught in the grand tradition of the Whig school, in which American history is a slow but inexorable trek from inequality to equality, from injustice to justice, from an imperfect to a more perfect union. Thus, and to overstate the case only slightly, King and Parks (and, some add, Malcolm X) brought full equality to black people, aided by a government that rose to the challenge. If students have encountered the Black Panther Party or other more radical groups, they know them as extremists who derailed progress or provoked race riots. Today, my white students and even some of my black students believe that such strife is behind us as we march into the twenty-first century united and basically bias free. I need not explain to JAEH readers the many ways this narrative is partial or incorrect and how dangerous the distortions are. Therefore, I design my courses on African American history and on race to undermine almost as much understanding as (I hope) they provide. The implied lack of agency for black people in general and the silence around mass and grassroots organizing, the lethal dangers facing activists, the opposition of government officials even at the highest levels, and the ongoing reality of inequality and bigotry all require emphasis and explanation. My students often resist these revisions to the triumphal narrative. They unsettle the safe and reliable world these students hope to inherit. Generally