When it comes to the history of slavery in the U.S., the central role it played in shaping the country and its continued impact on race relations, students don't know much.
In fact, only 8 percent of high school seniors can identify slavery as the central cause of the Civil War, according to a report released Thursday by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
"It's important that everyone understand that slavery is truly at the foundation and formation of this nation," Hasan Kwame Jeffries, associate professor of history at Ohio State University, said on a press call the center organized Thursday. "You really can't understand the American past or present without having a good grasp of the role that slavery played in this country."
The survey, which was conducted over the course of one year by the center's Teaching Tolerance project, also found that teachers, textbooks and state academic standards aren't helping the situation.
"It's hard to discuss violence and teach white supremacy. It's hard to learn about the shortcomings of our American icons and heroes," Jeffries said. "It's hard to wrap our minds around the fact that something so vile undergirds our history. So we have tended to shy away."
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