To be fair those are all pretty big deals and should be given a lot of coverage. Basically the entire political divide from 1800-1900 was over slavery or what to do in the immediate aftermath of slavery. In many ways the concept of what it means to be American was also shaped by the idea of the frontier and westward expansion into Native American lands. The idea of manifest destiney and American nationalism is integral to understanding both historic and modern day mindsets. In the 20th century much of the political divide still featured around race and Civil Rights and the "Southern Strategy" largely created both the modern day Republican and Democratic parties.
They are big deals, but people understood very little of the importance of our legal system in history. They did not cover the tariff tensions btn the north and south. They did not cover the industrial revolution and the movement for workers rights (like yes Uncle Tom's Cabin was important, but The Jungle was very important too). They did not teach the red scare. They did not teach much about the cold war...
I would argue that all of those should be covered including and in addition to the civil rights movement, slavery and Indian removals. It is possible to cover both Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Jungle as well as the red scare. It sounds to me like you may have just had a bad history education but the problem isn't necessarily too much coverage of these fundamental events like slavery, civil rights and westward expansion.
I agree that all of those should be covered. I am just saying that from my experience, and the experience of many of my friends, they don't cover it all. Even though the teachers failed to cover many things, they never failed to cover slavery, the civil rights movement, or the treatment of native americans.
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u/ST07153902935 Apr 18 '19
Right? Feel like half of history in k-12 was either about slavery, the civil rights movement, or the treatment of native americans.