1. Teaching Tolerance

2. Classical Liberalism
“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Jefferson’s ideas on classical liberalism left out that as long as slavery is not abolished, his foundation for society was set up for the natural aristocracy (land owning white men) and not true equity.

3. Jeffersonian Liberalism on Slavery
When Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743, slavery had existed in Virginia for nearly 75 years. He grew up on a plantation with enslaved workers, and owned nearly 200 slaves as an adult. Jefferson’s life and words reflect the moral contradictions and practical concerns facing the architects of the new democracy that extolled freedom and equality.

4. Jefferson’s personal beliefs on slavery
Racial inferiority argued against intermarriage calling it an amalgamation
He fathered children with Sally Hemmings
His beliefs remained conflicted and unchanged at the time of his death
He did not serve another emancipation bill after his 1800 failure

5. Liberalism as hope
We can look at the forefathers of liberalism and see that they were deeply conflicted people and that racism undoubtedly played a role in their unwillingness to take a hard look at slavery, but we can also see that the foundation of their ideas are what can be strived to be improved upon.
Scholar Annette Gordon-Reed said as long as racism is part of the fabric of our lives, historians will look to Jefferson, Washington, and other founding fathers to try to understand how we became what we are.
Understanding slavery is crucial to understanding liberalism, the good and bad.

6. Questions
Is the issue of slavery an anomaly in Jefferson’s philosophy flaws in his character, or does it represent a deeper flaw in liberalism?
What becomes of Jefferson's ideas if the large majority of the population are excluded?

7. Schools fail to teach the issue of slavery
Unfortunately, schools are not teaching about slavery and our students are not learning that students lack a basic knowledge of the important role it played in shaping the United States and the impact it continues to have on race relations in America
Teaching Hard History: American Slavery, is meant to be that intervention: a resource for teachers who are eager to help their students better understand slavery — not as some "peculiar institution" but as the blood-soaked bedrock on which the United States was built.

8. The SPLC Teaching Tolerance Reports:
This report places an urgent call on educators, curriculum writers and policy makers to confront the harsh realities of slavery and racial injustice. Learning about slavery is essential for us to bridge the racial differences that continue to divide our nation.
Only 8 percent of high school seniors surveyed could identify slavery as the central cause of the Civil War. Most didn’t know an amendment to the U.S. Constitution formally ended slavery. Fewer than half (44 percent) correctly answered that slavery was legal in all colonies during the American Revolution.

9. Nearly all teachers (97 percent) surveyed agreed that teaching and learning about slavery are essential to understanding American history, there was a lack of deep coverage of the subject in the classroom, according to the report. More than half (58 percent) reported that they were dissatisfied with their textbooks, and 39 percent reported that their state offered little or no support for teaching about slavery.

10. Mistakes used teaching slavery
Textbooks and teachers tend to accentuate the positive, focusing on heroes like Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass without also giving students the full, painful context of slavery. Slavery is often described as a Southern problem. It was much, much more. When the Declaration of Independence was signed, it was a problem across the colonies. Even in the run-up to the Civil War, the North profited mightily from slave labor.

11. Slavery depended on the ideology of white supremacy, and teachers shouldn't try to tackle the former without discussing the latter. Too often, the report says, "the varied, lived experience of enslaved people is neglected." Instead, lessons focus on politics and economics, which means focusing on the actions and experiences of white people.

13. Essential elements for teaching American slavery
Teaching Tolerance recommends using primary sources and original historical materials to improve instruction, and making textbooks better to reflect a more accurate and inclusive view of slavery. The recommendations include fully integrating American slavery into lessons about U.S. history, expanding the use of original historical documents, improving textbooks, and strengthening the curriculum on topics involving slavery.

14. Questions What are some ways educators could teach slavery?
What is the benefit of teaching slavery effectively?

15. Resources
Understanding and Teaching American Slavery
Edited by Bethany Jay and Cynthia Lynn Lyerly
Foreword by Ira Berlin