Upon entering my English 101 class I was ignorant of my African history. In the past I accepted the history that was taught to me in grammar school and through television as true. I have never second-guessed the curriculum that was passed to me during my youth. After reading the few inserts Professor Reddick has introduced to me, I have gained and lost respect for my people.
             Slavery was never to be spoken of in my home so I knew very little first hand knowledge about what our people went through. In grammar school we were taught the very basics on African slavery. We were not informed on how slavery was introduced to the world. I recall sitting in my elementary classroom listening to a lecture on how white men sailed their boats over to Africa and captured many African inhabitants. My teacher then told us that the African people were brought back to America to work for the white community. The Africans were often beaten and given insufficient amounts of food, clothing and shelter.
             As I advanced in school, the organization and curriculum of my history classes never changed. I was taught more on presidential subjects, war, and how slavery ended. I was taught about Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and other great black leaders that helped the black nation gain civil rights. These things were taught because it made a drastic positive impact on black history. Most of these events were also televised, making it hard for the white people to conceal this part of history.
             Great movies such as "Mississippi Burning", "Roots" and "Once We Were Colored" also made an impact on my knowledge regarding my history. Many of these movies showed blacks being hung, burned, shot and beaten by whites mainly because of the color of their skin. A range of other movies viewed blacks being sprayed by water and beaten with billy clubs while they marched for the future of their civil rig...