As February was Black History Month and this summer marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed, Nakia Parker is working to ensure conversations continue about remembering and recognizing moments and Black leaders throughout America’s history.
Parker is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Michigan State University’s College of Social Science, where her work illuminates the intertwined experiences of African American and Native American communities in the 19th century.
Here, Parker shares her perspective on how a fuller approach to Black history can shape students’ understanding of the past and present.
What do educators most often get right — and wrong — when teaching Black history today?
I think we’ve gotten better at focusing on Black resistance, resilience and creativity rather than portraying Black Americans only as passive victims of oppression. That shift — especially since the 1970s — is really important.
Where we still fall short is relying too heavily on a handful of iconic figures. When I ask my students which names come to mind when they think of Black history, it’s usually the same three: Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman. These figures are essential, but when we only teach through heroic biographies, we miss the freedom struggles of ordinary people — actions taken by families, communities and individuals that were survival strategies and forms of resistance.
Another issue is teaching slavery or the Civil Rights Movement in isolation. That approach makes it too easy to treat Black history as separate from U.S. history, when in fact Black history is U.S. history. We need to teach these histories alongside state formation, economic policy and other major aspects of American development because they’re inseparable.
How has teaching the history of slavery and Black freedom struggles evolved?
One major shift — especially in the last 10 to 15 years — is that scholars are interrogating the archives themselves. Works from scholars like Marisa Fuentes, Maria Montalvo, Jennifer Morgan, Jessica Marie Johnson, and Vanessa Holden ask us to consider who created these documents, for whom and why.
Studying slavery means confronting sources written largely by perpetrators — enslavers, overseers, court officials. These records rarely tell us about the interior lives of enslaved people and, often, enslaved people couldn’t testify on their own behalf.
So how do we learn about their humanity from documents never meant to capture it? By handling the archives with care and being thoughtful about the methods we use.
There’s also been growing scholarship on how slavery shaped capitalism, state formation and the dispossession of Native land. Integrating slavery into these broader histories is crucial. The history of enslaved women has expanded dramatically. Scholars like Jennifer Morgan have shown that enslaved women played roles we haven’t traditionally acknowledged. For example, participants in the transatlantic slave trade or as protagonists in resistance movements like Nat Turner’s Rebellion. We now know some slave ships were composed entirely of enslaved women. The field is widening in exciting ways.
What can we learn about progress by looking at the last 250 years of history?
Looking at the past 250 years reminds us that progress is rarely linear. The expansion of freedom, whether the end of slavery, Reconstruction amendments, the Civil Rights Movement, etc. have typically come through sustained struggle, coalition building and pressure from ordinary people as much as from famous leaders. Just as important, those gains have often been contested, rolled back or reshaped over time. This reminds us that rights and democracy are continually negotiated rather than permanently secured.
Studying the long arc of American history also helps us see that debates over citizenship, sovereignty, labor and belonging have been central to the United States from the beginning. By examining how earlier generations confronted these questions, we gain perspective on the present: Progress has occurred, but it has depended on people recognizing injustice, organizing collectively and insisting that the nation live up to its stated ideals. And more work still needs to be done.
Given Black history is often taught in isolated units or commemorative moments, what does it look like to integrate it throughout U.S. history?
Teaching Black history only during isolated moments — like Black History Month — prevents us from seeing how Black history fundamentally shaped the nation, including its institutions, economy and legal frameworks.
For example, we often teach the Constitution as a response to the failures of the Articles of Confederation. But we also need to examine the compromises it made regarding slavery, such as the fugitive slave clause. You can’t fully understand constitutional development without understanding how it addressed — or avoided — slavery.
Free Black people after the American Revolution also used the nation’s own rhetoric of freedom and liberty to argue for their rights, shaping federal policy in the process. When we silo Black history, we miss these essential connections. Integrating it throughout the curriculum gives students a more accurate understanding of American history.
How can historians and teachers navigate increased challenges to teaching race and racism?
It can be difficult, but focusing on primary sources is key. Let the historical actors speak for themselves.
When I teach the Civil War and the secession crisis, I ask students: If secessionists time-traveled to today and heard people claim the Civil War was about states’ rights, what would they say? Then we look at their words. We examine the “Cornerstone Speech” by Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, where he explicitly states that the Confederacy is founded on the belief that slavery is natural and justified. We read secession documents from South Carolina, Mississippi and others, all of which clearly cite slavery as the reason for leaving the Union.
When students analyze that evidence themselves, it strengthens their critical thinking and prevents the teacher from being accused of “pushing an agenda.” It’s not their interpretation — it’s what the primary sources say. And ultimately, that’s what historians should do: teach the historical record with honesty and curiosity.
What do you hope resonates when students study Black history?
I hope they understand that Black history is American history, and that struggles over freedom and citizenship are ongoing. These issues didn’t end with the Civil Rights Act or the 13th Amendment. They continue to evolve.
I also want students to recognize that ordinary people shaped these histories. Their choices were purposeful and strategic. For example, Rosa Parks didn’t stay in her seat on the bus because she was “tired.” She was a trained activist, deeply involved in the NAACP, and part of planned discussions about who should be the test case for challenging segregation in Montgomery.
Ordinary people make calculated decisions about when and how to express resistance and claim freedom. Understanding that gives students a sense of their own social and civic responsibility.
How does understanding history shape the present and future?
History informs today’s debates about democracy and rights. To understand contemporary inequalities or political conflicts, we need to know how they were structured in the past and how people challenged them.
History teaches change over time. When we understand how rights, institutions and inequalities developed — how people argued about them, reshaped them or resisted them — we can better interpret the world we’re living in. Without that context, today’s events might seem random or inevitable when, in fact, they’re part of longer trajectories.
History isn’t just facts and dates. It’s people — historical actors whose decisions influence us today. And the choices we make now will shape the future in the same way.