Humanities Homework Help

The videos below relate to how the way racial history is taught in American and the need for change. The first video, a little less than 30 minutes, is a segment of HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (original airdate 8/2/2020) who discusses the need to change how we teach slavery in the context of U.S. History suggesting it has too often been diluted to make it more palatable for white Americans.

Next, check out the 10-minute interview with Nikole Hannah-Jones on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah discussing the New York Times’ 1619 Project and her contention that slavery should be at the center of American History with a story that begins in 1619, rather than the traditional telling of American History that generally starts its narrative in 1776.

Lastly, Donald Trump argues these approaches are unpatriotic and embrace “critical race theory”, thus motivating him to sign an executive order to implement the 1776 Project.

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Please share your own experiences in regards to how these subjects have been taught to you and if the textbooks or narratives, as discussed in the videos, were generally lacking compared to what you know now. Is there a solution to the problem of how these subjects are taught? After watching these segments, please post your comments (an overall reaction as well as one for each individual video) and indicate which arguments your found most, and least, persuasive. Reply to at least two other class members’ comments. You won’t be able to see their responses until posting your own so please post your initial response asap in order to give people time to reply.