From What Next: What Kids Aren’t Learning About US History

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of omitting negative aspects of American history in education.

The hosts are on vacation this week! But we’ve got an episode from What Next for you that we think you’ll love. Conservatives have long complained that teaching American history with slavery and genocide and systemic oppression is just too negative, and the Trump administration has gone as far as attacking the Smithsonian for focusing too much on “how horrible our country is.” But omitting the shameful aspects of America’s past doesn’t just distort history—it impairs our ability to understand the present. Guest: Clint Smith, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America and the new poetry collection Above Ground . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Guest: Clint Smith

Topics covered

• US history
• education
• slavery
• systemic oppression
• cultural criticism

Keywords

• US history
• slavery
• education
• systemic oppression
• Clint Smith

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Atlantic, Smithsonian

Books & works: How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, Above Ground

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