Review of the New York State Curricular Materials K–12 - Focus: African American Culture by Dr. Leonard Jeffries (former Chair & Professor of the Department of Black Studies, City College of New York, November 1988). The operational method of approach for this review involved dividing the curricular materials into four major categories: Humanities, sciences, special education, and social sciences. In order to more thoroughly analyze the materials, several primary aspects were delineated: Contextual relevancy and invisibility; Content stereotyping and marginality; Historical distortion and omission; Multicultural form and substance; Eurocentric conceptualization and modality; and Systems capability and development. African Americans have historically played a crucial role in the development of the United States. This reality has been true from the first settlements of British colonists to Virginia through the American Revolution and the Civil War, down to the present. Even when the African Americans have not been present in large numbers, the nation has been preoccupied with issues that have concerned them or their circumstances. The vital presence of the African American population has always posed a special challenge for the United States. More often than not, the unique place of African Americans has been misunderstood and this ignorance has inevitably produced hatred and fear. |
