African American Studies Commons^™

Teaching “Segregation” And The Black Liberation Movement In The Age Of Obama, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

Soul/R&B legend, Wilson Pickett was nominated for a Grammy in 1999 for the song “It’s Harder Now.” Pickett’s soul classic resonates with me in part because I find teaching African American history “harder now.” It is especially difficult to teach the sociohistorical period known variously as “the age of Jim Crow” or “Segregation.” Students don’t see the segregated South of the post World War II era as harrowing as Slavery or as rancorous as the Nadir, 1877-1923. Why is teaching African American history to this generation of college students such a difficult task? Why is the era of “Segregation” and …