In the early 20th century Alabama had a law where you would be arrested if you played checkers with someone fro another race. I think some people really don't recognize what America used to be like... https://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/detail/jim-crow-laws.html https://twitter.com/wesyang/status/1304785000727015424

A flyer handed out in the 1950's Louisiana. Now the best-selling artists in America are typically from one minority group or another.

Learning the warts of history would probably make people less pessimistic, not more. Because if you don't have any basis for comparison, you think you live in the worst of times. Just like those NYT profiles of rich Manhattanites always complaining they have too little money.

We should encourage people to learn about history so they have perspective