The abolitionist movement gained momentum in St. Louis, fueled by the efforts of activists and free Black communities who wanted to challenge the institution of slavery and advocate for equal rights. However, the legacy of slavery continued to cast a long shadow over the city long after its formal abolition. Today, St. Louis struggles with the history of it’s slave trade history, confronting issues of systemic racism, inequality, and social justice. Efforts to memorialize the dark chapter in the city’s past have included the preservation of historical sites, the establishment of educational programs, and ongoing dialogue about race. In summary, while the slave trade in St. Louis may not be as widely known as in other parts of the United States, its impact on the city’s development and its lasting impacts on race  and social justice cannot be overlooked. The history of slavery in St. Louis serves as a reminder of the struggle for freedom and equality in America.

Teaching hard history is an approach that emphasizes the inclusion and accurate history related to slavery, racism, colonialism, and other forms of oppression. The goal of teaching hard history is to provide students with an understanding of the past, including its darker aspects, in order to provide critical thinking, empathy, and a commitment to justice and equality. Acknowledging difficult topics recognizes that certain topics in history, such as slavery, genocide, and systemic racism, are challenging to teach but essential for an understanding of the past. Teaching hard history involves incorporating diverse perspectives into the curriculum, including those of marginalized communities whose stories have often been overlooked or marginalized overtime.  It is important to provide students with the historical context surrounding difficult events including the social, economic, and political factors that contributed to them. Finally, teaching hard history often emphasizes the importance of taking action to address ongoing injustices and advocate for positive social change. Overall, teaching hard history is a vital aspect of education that gives students the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to create a more just and equitable world.

Cullen Krieg

Dr. Jack

CODES
7 February 2024

Learning for Justice

This source that we used was focused as a podcast and talked about how teachers or others that talk about slavery, how they could implement it into a teaching way. Society has always had a problem with the way slavery has been taught. Normally not enough time has been spent on the subject which leaves individuals in shock on the quick lesson. 

Individuals want the slavery topic to be taught in schools but, the author suggests that there needs to be a sort of structure to the topic. They want to spend more time than schools do now. They want the information to come across as informational and not harmful.

This source is related to our class because we have been talking about reparative justice which pertains to this source. All in all, I completely agree with the suggestion that was made, because personally my school barely touched on the subject and seemed to want to jump to war history.

Cullen Krieg

Dr. Jack

CODES

14 February 2024

Archives Reflection

This visit to the Archives I thought was very informal. I was able to look at the documents in the archives and learn a lot. The information that was learned allowed us to dive a little bit deeper than usual. We were able to learn about the Meachums and how they were treated.

The archival papers that my group looked at were documents that showed loans, dates, equity, and Henry Shaw’s house. Also my group was able to come to a conclusion that Henry Shaw took advantage of black families. Most black families were silenced back then which just showed the obvious racism that took place. It posed a great advantage to the white families in the loan system, which allowed them to capitalize much more. 

All in all, my group was allowed to see pieces of the past which brought a little bit more insight on what exactly we are doing at the garden. I was able to learn a lot more than I thought I would have since we have gone there so many times beforehand. I am ready and willing to go again to do the same process to learn a little bit more.

Cullen Krieg

Dr. Jack

CODES
14 February 2024

The Slave Trade in Saint Louis

In this most recent article we read about how Bernard Lynch took part in the slave trade in the Saint Louis area. Bernard Lynch was a man that had no disregard for african american life. 

The author is trying to express and inform the point of how individuals were treated back when the slave trade was still taking place. The author was trying to let the reader understand the past history of how slaves were not treated as regular human beings but rather as items. 

This article can relate back to our class because we are learning about reparative justice and the ability to be able to learn about this helps show what our world is like now compared back then. It also pertains to our class because it is in the Saint Louis Area where we are also learning about the history of the Botanical garden and it is in the general vicinity of the garden. 

The audience of the article can pertain to anyone that wants to learn about the past of Saint Louis. They can learn about how Bernard Lynch was a slave trader and how he treated them. 

All in all, this article can pertain to our class because of the closeness it is to the garden. The audience of the article can pertain to anyone as long as they want to learn about the past. 

The website shows a very throrough overview on the slave trade in St. Louis. It includes a bunch of things belonging to Lynch, showing tangible evidence that this took place. The source talks about some experiences of enslaved people, going into detail about some of the experiences they had. There were also visual elements to the source, adding another layer of depth to it and adding to the reading experience. Overall, this source was a very good one, and had a lot of elements that added a lot of depth to the reading.

  From the article read the author’s main argument is that restorative justice in the St. Louis is correlated to the ideas of peoples and their wrongdoings.  There are some principles or guidelines that speak about how wrongdoings are a violation of people’s interpersonal relationships.  I believe this is the biggest reason why certain things like racism was and are so big in St. Louis and even across the country. When you go against people’s personal boundaries in relation to being treated right and equality you run into situations where people feel like they are not being heard or understood. This then can turn into protests and other acts of freedom of speech which is our first amendment right. As the article mentions “Restorative Justice acknowledges that when a person does harm, it affects the people they hurt, the community and themselves”.  It’s not just about when you do something wrong and forget it, the moral is when there is a misunderstanding when it comes to people’s voices and actions, people should be held accountable for their wrongdoings and the people that are or were affected should not have to suffer because others do not like the way things are going, or because a particularly community wants to improve or do better for themselves.

         This source teaches us to understand what restorative justice is and to address issues when they should be and need be, within a respectful and proper manner.  One phrase I like to use is “ One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch”,  and that is what can happen when one person gets hurt or a group of people get hurt, it spreads like wildfire. As humans we have to be conscious and aware of who and what we are doing because if not we can hurt people emotionally instead of uplifting and helping. 

The source was created to suggest ways and methods where teachers can implement the topic of slavery into learning. Being that these kids are incredibly young and there is a lot of controversy in society on when the topic of slavery should be introduced and how it should be introduced, it is important we discuss this. The creator suggests useful source materials for K-5 students; a framework process. They want to build an architecture for teachers to teach slavery in a respectful and intentional way and meet students where they are. This source is important to me because my research question is how we can teach the history of enslavement in MOBOT Garden to children in neighboring communities. This can help my group and I formulate ideas being that we will be the ones in charge and will have to do this physically in first person.  

The Madison County Historical Society’s mission is to, “open doors to Madison Countys history.” The way they present their work and mission is in a very sincere and authentic way. In their about, the language used shows how open-minded and courteous these individuals are. Most times, society likes to fabricate history rather than telling the harsh truth. This archive does not only preserve the county of Madison, Illinois but, also, they acknowledge, “our community achievements and triumphs, as well as our tragedies and failures.” The archive was founded “in 1915, the Old Settlers Union made a motion to organize a “historical society for the purpose of collecting relics and valuable information of all kinds pertaining to the history of Madison County” (Madison County Historical Society). Sometimes on the documents in archives, there is no demographic information about the individual(s). This can cause confusion so to understand it we might need demographic information, names, time, place, etc. Another huge component could be knowing how to translate Old English into New English being that a lot of these documents were retrieved during the early 1900’s. The archive serves the Edwardsville community. It can serve neighboring communities nearby, such as Madison County, etc. The people of Illinois have a stake in the archive’s contents because this archive relies on donations, and that is how they function and operate. In the source it also states that museum and library is, “owned and operated by the Madison County Historical Society through the generous donations of members and friends and the help of Society volunteers” (Madison County Historical Society).

This source is important to us because it gives us a deeper knowledge and understanding of what restorative justice is and each component of these steps. It also goes deeper into ways to incorporate restorative justice in our local neighboring community. The audience for this source could vary but I think the intended audience for this source was not only people who deal with adolescents and juveniles in the Saint Louis area but also those who reside in other states other than Saint Louis. They really talked about solutions pertaining to Saint Louis, but you can apply these things in areas greater than Saint Louis as well.  No, the creator is not trying to prove anything, rather the author is more so trying to just inform the reader about restorative justice and its impacts on the victim and community. They are also going into depth about the programs they have implemented in schools and the community.