I grew up in the most segregated metropolitan area in the country.

Where was that? If you don't mind answering.

Where suburbs were entirely white and hostile towards Detroit proper.

Grew up in Pontiac in the early 70's when they instituted cross district bussing when I was in 7th grade, in an attempt to get 50-50 balance in each school building. Black history was heavily discussed. Once you got to HS level, there would have been a natural integration, so the bussing was instituted in the lower grade levels.

My younger brother in elementary school was given an assignment to write a story about his favorite Detroit Tiger player. His favorite was a backup catcher. His story was rejected by the teacher because the player was white. Perhaps he misunderstood the assignment, but he was just a kid and that was his favorite player. Kids don't pick a favorite "insert race or ethnicity here" player in each sport. My mother was not pleased

elective....and yes, I did take the class

*I should add it was taught by one very special teacher and yes, she was WAY ahead of her time

ran every black pupil out of town--even a star football player. They wouldn't have DREAMED of teaching black history.

in highschool my World history class had a 6 week course on African History which included some African-American history. Pretty progressive for Nashville in the 70's. The guidance counselor, Doc. Poebles taught it.

The hs I taught at in Chicago used this one. John Hope Franklin has been the first, and considered foremost, Black historian (don't know about Higginbotham).

This was in the Atlanta schools.

The high school class was embarrassingly lacking. Teacher created handouts and some reading suggestions.

I graduated from a very good FL hs in '66; then, there were no such classes.

And by Atlanta, I mean Atlanta proper. The city itself, in walking distance of the Capitol.

I graduated high school in '74. So, during my childhood, schools were still segregated.

Where were you?

This elective was a popular choice among the students.

When I was in 1-12 in the '70s, there were topics on it. Not specific, but worked in--from slavery in the North and South, Triangle Trade, Civil War and Reconstruction (and the pushback), KKK and Jim Crow.

Where I teach they spend weeks on topics during the year--pretty much the same as when I was in school, but Harlem Renaissance, Great Migration, and a lot of time on the Civil Rights Movement (a bit too recent in '72 to be able to do it any kind of decent job).

My high school also piloted the AP AA Studies course.

so no. No Asian-American history either.

Same with First Peoples.

Western Washington, just south of Seattle. I believe we had 1, maybe 2 black students when I graduated. Quite a few Asians of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese varieties in the area, but not many blacks, at least in the areas I frequented.

Though we did have a unit in language arts on bigotry and prejudice.

The busing debate was getting started.

I often wonder if they had a Black History class there.

So, no. We had some good French-Canadian jokes, though.

in my 11th grade US history class but not a whole class on it.

teacher went into great detail about the Civil War and even wrote a book on the subject. We learned about the cruelty of slavery.

Social studies, of course. Black History, Native American genocide, labor movements, incidents such as Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. All those were folded into the history classes with crossover in English with Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

English classes covered things like Harlem Renaissance. We read Malcolm X's autobiography. We also had more modern pieces from authors like Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and August Wilson.

Art and music of course. Music class is where I learned about people like Big Mama Thornton and Sarah Vaughan.

The topic wasn't seen as separate, but as a part of everything else. This was in the 90s.

We had white schools and black schools in Dallas. The black schools got the well worn old textbooks while the white students got brand new ones.

… in school, and if they had any problem with Hawaii’s racially mixed lifestyle they kept their opinions to themselves. The troubles in the Southern US had been playing out on the nightly news since we were all in grade school.

Our history textbooks were thin on a lot of things, but slavery was presented as evil from the start, and the Civil War a tragic outcome.

As well as different regions/states making for different answers.

I was just curious. Appreciate people taking the time to reply.

St. Paul Johnson 89-93

In the early 70s. And I went to HS in a very conservative community. Grosse Pointe, MI.