VIDEO: Why It’s So Important To Know Your History

Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, on how her upbringing— her father was a history teacher—helped her understand how the past is still impacting Americans today.

WATCH: When she was a kid, Becky Pringle’s father would take her to Charlottesville, Va., in the places where her ancestors were enslaved.

Now Pringle’s the president of the National Education Association, a national teacher’s org whose 3 million members make up the largest union in the U.S. She says that her upbringing— her father was a history teacher—helped her understand how the past is still impacting Americans today.

She pointed out “redlining” as an example. For generations, banks and other lenders or insurers would deny services to Black communities they deemed not worth the investment. That practice has had a longterm impact on the financial health of Black families.

Pringle was one of many educators who came to a Color of Change summit in Charlotte recently to advocate for education on racial injustice and history. Conservative groups have been targeting K-12 curriculum and programs that talk about these things in the classroom because they say, among other things, that it leads to racial resentment.

 

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