• shalafi@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Funny thing about cotton. Once a black man, Eli Whitney, invented the cotton gin, suddenly cotton plantations became far more valuable.

    Never understood why the teachers talked so much about the cotton gin until I actually grew and picked cotton. Jesus H. Christ it’s impossible to get the seeds out by hand. And picking? I’ll spare you the gory details, but it’s a bloody business. If anyone hasn’t tried it, give it a shot, you’ll see what I mean.

      • wjrii@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        Completely true, but that misinformation was delivered with such confidence that I got curious, and whaddayaknow, it’s an extremely common misconception rising out of sloppy curriculum design, systemic racism that crams everything related to the black experience into one month, and easy assumptions on the part of children.