1,000 signatures reached
To: Springfield Board of Commissioners, Springfield Township Superintendents
“Demand Infusion of African-American History into the Curriculum”
The NAACP Youth Leadership Committee in the Springfield Township School District of Montgomery County is asking that African American History be taught in school as an equally valuable discipline to what currently exists, which is essentially European history with African American history barely talked about.
Specifically, we are requesting the following for the 2020-2021 school year:
1. The infusion of African American studies into the K-12 curriculum of the Springfield Township School District;
2. The African American studies elective which begins in the fall at the high school to be made into a full credit course;
3. These classes need to be taught by African American teachers with subject matter knowledge in the discipline, not only because they have the expertise, but also as an opportunity for the district to recruit more Black teachers.
Today racist scenarios are emerging more and more due to ignorance. To prevent these scenarios from happening, we need your help by signing this petition for the implementation of African American History.
Why is this important?
My name is Candace Harrison, and I’m a part of the NAACP Youth Leadership Committee, which is a group in Montgomery County Pennsylvania that strives to achieve racial equality within education. Education is a crucial part of what shapes us. The more we educate ourselves, the more we advance to becoming extraordinary individuals. However, school systems do not always cover all important topics. Just as many positives come with the school systems, there are many negatives as well. Part of those problems is systemic racism due to ignorance from the education systems. Proper education can help influence more people into eliminating hateful acts and situations towards people of color. Our initiative as the NAACP Youth Leadership Committee is to recognize the negatives of the system and work towards changing them into favorable opportunities.
One major problem in the school system is the Social Studies and History Class curriculum. From elementary school to high school, students only learn about history from the “winners' perspective”. Teachers avoid talking about America’s wrongdoings and faults that took place throughout history and continue to happen, specifically, with African Americans. From a young age, people all over America cower away from acknowledging black and brown faces, let alone black and brown history. Instead, society emphasizes white faces and understanding of European and white history. This is an issue because students are only aware of the “dominant” side of history, and lack knowledge of other people’s history. Society’s neglect of African American history perpetuates racist, stereotyped, and discriminatory situations. People should be made aware of these situations, so rather than starting them, they can be the people to put an end to them.