On the evening of June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man, entered the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and sat with church members in a Bible study group. One hour after arriving, Roof opened fire on the group, killing nine. The nation was left stunned and grieving.

Six months later, in December 2015, Joe Riley, the mayor of Charleston at the time of the shooting, delivered the commencement speech at the winter graduation ceremony at the University of South Carolina (USC). Riley asked, “What possessed this evil man to come in with a gun to kill people because they were black?” He went on to state, “Ignorance fuels bigotry. Ignorance about the history of African Americans is a huge deficit in our country.” …. “I believe that if Dylan Roof, when he was in the 5th grade, had been taught all of American history – if he understood the sacrifices and the harshness and the courage and the indomitable spirit of African Americans, then I believe he wouldn’t have been able to have bigotry in his heart. A knowledge of the contributions of African Americans would have prevented that.”