
Why Young Americans
Need To Know these Facts 

About Slavery
Sheldon M. Stern,
an African-American
historian at the
John F. Kennedy Library
and Museum (1977–1999)
—where he
designed the museum’s
first civil rights exhibit,
notes:
“Failure to educate young Americans
about the whole story of Atlantic slave
trade threatens to divide our nation and
undermine our civic unity and belief in the historical legitimacy of our democratic institutions. Education in a democracy cannot promote half-truths about history without undermining the ideal of “e pluribus unum”—one from many—and substituting a divisive emphasis on many from one. The history of the slave trade proves that virtually everyone participated and profited -- whites and blacks; Christians, Muslims, and Jews; Europeans, Africans, Americans, and Latin Americans.
Once we recognize the shared historical responsibility for the Atlantic slave trade, we can turn our attention to “transforming the future” by eradicating its corrosive legacy.” ​​
Read this complete article,
​It's Time to Face the Whole Truth
about the Atlantic Slave
