It’s sad that you have to explain the historical context, but the public education system has done nothing to explain the realities of history.
Of course neither has Hollywood, hence the recent spate of historical dramas showing blacks holding positions of power and influence in eras where that just didn’t happen.
“Wild Wild West” featuring Will Smith as a Secret Service agent in the 1870s is one example (btw, I like Will Smith’s movies, for the most part). The idea of a black Secret Service agent in that era is not only preposterous, but the reality is he likely would have been killed had he tried to perform his duty (particularly in the “wild wild west”).
I don’t understand the reasoning behind rewriting history in this way.
Why would he have been killed?