A Complex Reality: America

Teaching American History across a racial divide is a challenge—one we don’t take lightly.

Black and White parents often carry different burdens when approaching American History, but the weight can be heavy for both.

Black and White Americans share a deeply intertwined history. From the earliest days of Colonial America, Black and White lives were woven together—often through force. When connections were formed through labor, land, law, family structures, religion, and the economy, they were never equal. Systems were intentionally created to grant power, safety, and opportunity to some while denying it to others. Over time, leaders used race as a tool to divide, control, and justify imbalance.

Because of this, Black and White Americans didn’t simply experience history differently—we inherited different starting points.

The Past Is Not Past

Although laws have changed, the effects of those early systems—and the desire by some to retain power and control—did not simply disappear. These realities continue to shape how people move through the world today and how they relate to one another.

As James Baldwin once observed: “History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history.”

This reality is especially important when we think about children.

Children are born into history. They feel its effects in classrooms, neighborhoods, friendships, and family conversations.

When we teach children that history shaped our present—but does not have to dictate our future—we empower them to imagine something better.

At Caterpillar Curriculum, we don’t pretend to speak for all parents, Black or White. But generally speaking, we see two deeply human desires:

• American Black parents want their children to understand the truth of this nation without inheriting fear, rage, or shame.

• American White parents want their children to understand the truth of this nation without inheriting fear, rage, or guilt.

Both desires come from love. Both are reasonable. And both exist within a country undeniably shaped by a Black and White divide.

The United States of America was built on systems that created unequal outcomes based on race. That history is not abstract. It lives in family stories, community memory, and systems.

Many adults today are not only teaching American History—they are teaching through their own unresolved educational trauma. Silence, distortion, extreme violence, oversimplification, polarization, and shame-based instruction have all done real harm.

Educating children in the shadow of that past is not simple work. It is brave work.

The Challenge We Face

The challenge is not whether to teach honest history. The challenge is how.

We, including children, are not responsible for the crimes of the past, nor are we immune to its consequences. We all deserve the truth without terror. Context without condemnation. Clarity without cruelty.

When history is taught without humanity, it hardens hearts.

When it is taught without honesty, it weakens people.

It weakens families.

It weakens societies.

A Path Forward: Love, Courage, and Empathy

At Caterpillar Curriculum, we refuse to bow to the fear surrounding teaching the entire scope of American History. We believe there is a way to learn this History with love, courage, and empathy.

• Love demands that we protect children’s sense of worth while still respecting the truth. Love refuses to let History become a weapon—or an unexamined wound.

• Courage demands that American Black History be treated as a standard part of our curriculum, not an optional add-on.

• Empathy demands that we recognize every family enters this conversation carrying something different. Some carry grief. Some carry confusion. Some carry guilt. Some carry anger. Empathy makes space for all of it.

Our goal with Caterpillar Curriculum is to support families building informed, grounded, compassionate children who are capable of critical thought.

Based on the research that guides this work, we believe children can learn about injustice while also learning about resilience. They can learn about harm while also learning about healing. They can inherit truth without inheriting hatred.

If we teach American History with balance—acknowledging pain, honoring humanity, and emphasizing growth—we give children something powerful:

• The ability to face reality without losing hope.

That is how we are choosing to move forward on this journey.

Not by avoiding the past.

Not by drowning in it.

But by teaching it with care.

Teaching American Black History the Caterpillar Curriculum way requires curation—not to hide the truth, but to hold it with care, context, and humanity.

In our Curator Blog, we explain why thoughtful curation is essential for helping children learn a more. complete History without fear, rage, or shame, or guilt.