Rewriting Racism with Prager University: How the Modern Political Propaganda Outlet is Shaping Global Slavery Curricula within the American Educational System
Rachel Ledoux
Simmons University
Keywords: Racism, Political Propaganda, History, Slavery, Political Science, Social Sciences
Abstract
Modern political propaganda like that of PragerU has retroactively changed the way slavery is viewed by discounting its severity, whitewashing the abolitionist movement, and labeling contemporary anti-racism as anti-Americanism. By analyzing myriad examples of this social messaging, this paper demonstrates that many modern views of enslavement have been fundamentally reformed into less drastic outlooks by political propaganda, particularly within the educational system. I argue that a concentrated effort by the US government to address propaganda within the educational system is the only way to adequately combat this phenomenon, as the issue lies largely within the nationwide educational system and its historical curriculum. As long as organizations like PragerU are given a platform in American schools, there will never be an end to the spread of political propaganda regarding slavery and racism. The United States must overhaul its current historical education curriculum, lest impressionable young people continue to be affected by propaganda.
