STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Texas Public Schools Removing Jim Crow and KKK Content From Textbooks

Texas public schools are removing passages about Jim Crow and the Klu Klux Klan and are revising the causes of the Civil War in textbooks that will be used to educate five million students.

Students that attend public schools in Texas will not learn critical parts of history that expose the root cause of race relations in the United States. Passages on Jim Crow and the Klu Klux Klan will not be mentioned in textbooks to be read by five million students in the Lone Star state. 

The manner in which the Civil War is discussed will also be revised in classroom materials as well. The causes of division between the Northern and Southern states will be tied to "sectionalism, states' rights and slavery." 

Dan Quinn, of the Texas Freedom Network, an organization that has been critical of the textbooks that will be passed out to students this coming school year, told the Washington Post that the new curriculum does meet standards of teaching on slavery. But also adds that members of the state board education are purposely shifting focus away from slavery's role in causing the Civil War. 

“The books muddy things by presenting sectionalism and states’ rights ideas throughout,” said Quinn. “A lot of white Southerners have grown up believing that the Confederacy’s struggle was somehow a noble cause rather than a war in the defense of a horrific institution that enslaved millions of human beings.”
Follow Natelege Whaley on Twitter: @Natelege_
BET National News - Keep up to date with breaking news stories from around the nation, including headlines from the hip hop and entertainment world.

(Photo: Image Source/GettyImages)

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.