James Oliver Horton Analysis

James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton make the issue of education and public history explicitly because they come out saying that American History is not required to become a teacher, thus slavery is not taught and if it is then it is limited. It becomes really clear that in america the issue of slavery is avoided because it is a very emotional topic, because its a direct contradiction to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Horton also argues that even though slavery is a topic that many would react strongly to, most of those people are not well informed. Due to education not being top notch as we would think, history has become a subject where we re taught about the colonies, the transformation into sovereign states and …show more content…
Textbooks were not efficient because they left out history even though it was a factor for the Civil War and the fight of many African Americans for their freedom. Also because education was not being efficient, many whites also started to get the believe that slaves seemed happy of their situation due to slavery being romanticized. “in the late 1940s and early 1950s, students were told that the abolition of slavery may not have been the best thing for blacks because “slaves had snug cabins to live in, plenty of food to eat and work that was not too hard for them to do.” Then, as if to reaffirm the expected student conclusions, the text added, “Most of the slaves seemed happy and contented.””(Horton pg.41). History plays a huge role in the way we can see the world and for schools, incompetent teachers and textbooks that do not offer information, just helps to become isolationist. While I was reading this essay, I started to question whether slavery would ever become a topic that can be discussed in an intellectual way where everyone can listen to each other and feel comfortable amongst each