Letter to the Editor: Teach Black Fear in U.S. History, Analyze White Fear More
My first published Letter to the Editor in a little over 20 years is live. In the spirit of improv comedy, it is a “yes, and” to the published essay on Black fear:
My first published letter to the editor? I was an undergrad at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The published letter led to a weekly op-ed columnist job at the student newspaper, The Daily Illini.
I share this latest letter to the editor in gratitude for the research about Black fear and curriculum development of soon-to-be Dr. Brittany Jones, who wrote the essay that inspired my letter and is completing her Ph.D. at Michigan State. She advocates for the inclusion of Black fear in history and social studies lessons in schools. We return humanity to Black people harassed by White people throughout history when we discuss their feelings, how they feared White aggression and White fear. Also, thank you to the editorial team at Education Week.
The essay in EdWeek and my letter in response focus the lens of history lessons to analyzing human emotions in history over time. Coming off the heals of the National Council on Public History’s National Conference in Atlanta and the wonderful working group session on healing from historical trauma, I am curious about something mentioned in the working group session: the pairing of mental health professionals such as licensed social workers and therapists with history interpreters in museums, schools (teachers), and more.
As history lessons evolve and we write them with (un)redacted grammar and language, the focus of my research, we uncover who did what to whom and hopefully why, to prevent the past from recurring.
And as we uncover more about the past, we uncover deep trauma and our own emotions to process about the past to heal.
