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History

Interrogating AI: Slavery, Mass Incarceration, and Historical Truth

Faculty
Jotwan T. Daniels, Colorado Mountain College · jtdaniels@coloradomtn.edu
Course
African American History
Level
Undergraduate

Faculty Reflection

This assignment is designed to move beyond the binary of "using AI" or "not using AI" by positioning AI as an object of critical inquiry rather than a shortcut for task completion. Grounded in Bryan Stevenson's "Mass Incarceration" from The 1619 Project, the lesson asks students to engage deeply with the historical relationship between slavery and the modern U.S. carceral system while interrogating how that history is represented in AI-generated content. Rather than beginning with how students should use AI, this assignment begins with what students should understand and be able to do as historians: evaluate claims, identify omissions, analyze narrative framing, and connect past to present systems of power. AI is then introduced as a tool that can both support and distort these processes. Students first engage the historical text independently to build foundational understanding. They then use AI to generate and analyze competing narratives, treating AI outputs as sources that must be questioned, corroborated, and revised. In doing so, students practice critical AI literacy, examining not only what AI produces, but how and why those outputs may reflect incomplete, flattened, or biased representations of Black history. The assignment was also designed to align with Colorado Mountain College's four strategic pillars: Equity (analyzing how Black history is represented in AI systems), Care (creating space for difficult conversations about race and incarceration), Innovation (using AI as an object of study rather than avoiding it), and Integrity (holding students accountable for critical engagement with sources). Assessment includes a fifth pillar—AI literacy—recognizing that students need explicit practice evaluating AI-generated content, especially on topics involving historical power and systemic oppression.

What Students Create

Students critically analyze how AI represents the historical connections between slavery and mass incarceration, comparing AI-generated content against Bryan Stevenson's scholarship. They produce a civic action letter to a representative that connects historical analysis to contemporary justice issues while reflecting on their use of AI tools.

Why This Assignment Matters

This assignment positions AI as an object of critical inquiry rather than a shortcut. Students learn to interrogate how AI systems represent (and misrepresent) Black history, practicing critical AI literacy by examining what AI produces, how, and why those outputs may reflect incomplete or biased representations. By treating AI outputs as sources that must be questioned and corroborated, students develop essential skills for evaluating digital information in an age of generative AI.

Materials

Assignment Instructions

Read Bryan Stevenson's essay "Mass Incarceration" (webpage version) from The 1619 Project and respond to the guiding questions prior to our in-class discussion.

Guiding Questions:

  1. In his essay, Bryan Stevenson writes, "[C]entral to understanding this practice of mass incarceration and excessive punishment is the legacy of slavery." What facts and images does Stevenson use to show the similarities between slave plantations and Angola (the Louisiana State Penitentiary)?

  2. What rights were granted to U.S. citizens by the 13th amendment? What exception is written into the amendment that can revoke those rights?

  3. What were the Black Codes? What examples of Black Codes does Stevenson mention in his essay?

  4. What was convict leasing?

  5. What contemporary policies does Stevenson suggest have been implemented in the same way in which the Black Codes were implemented in the past?

  6. What do you think are the purposes of incarceration (the act of confining people in jails and prisons)? Do you think that jails and prisons are effective in carrying out those purposes? Why or why not?

  7. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. What explanations can you think of for this phenomenon, termed mass incarceration?

Reflection & Discussion Questions:

Identify the central idea of the essay, then process the following questions in your small group:

  • What information in this essay was surprising or new to you?
  • Stevenson writes that history has "fostered a view of black people as presumptively criminal." What does it mean to be "presumptively criminal"? What are the negative impacts of presuming some people to be criminal?
  • How does Stevenson's essay add to the way you think about the purposes of incarceration?
  • Why do societies have laws? What is their purpose? How can the law be used positively? What are some examples? How can the law be used negatively? What are some examples?
  • Stevenson writes that "too many Americans are willing spectators to horrifying acts, as long as we're assured they're in the interest of maintaining order." What does order look like to you? Who is responsible for maintaining order? What "horrifying acts" have been committed in the name of maintaining order?
  • In his concluding paragraph, Stevenson writes, "Hopelessness is the enemy of justice." What does this mean?
  • How are people organizing to oppose harsh punishment and mass incarceration in your community?

AI Permissions

No AI use in this phase

What Students Learn

  • Identify connections between slavery and mass incarceration through historical evidence
  • Analyze key concepts: 13th Amendment exception, Black Codes, convict leasing
  • Evaluate how history has shaped contemporary perceptions of criminality
WHY START WITH STEVENSON (NOT AI)

We need something to measure AI against. If students encounter AI-generated explanations of mass incarceration before they've built their own understanding through Stevenson's scholarship, they won't be able to see what gets lost when technology flattens voice, urgency, and complexity.

Stevenson does something AI can't: he connects historical evidence, legal analysis, and moral urgency in a way that makes students feel the weight of the argument. His writing is the anchor. Without it, students have no benchmark for recognizing when AI produces something that sounds right but is historically incomplete.

I also introduce Stevenson multimodally—starting with a video clip so students can see him speak before they read his essay. He's personable, Southern, and he makes complex arguments accessible. That video sets the hook.

THE CLASSROOM AS SACRED SPACE

This content is hard. Students struggle with the discomfort of recognizing that the 13th Amendment—something they've been taught to see as progress—contains an exception that enabled a new form of racial control. They also struggle with connecting historical systems to present-day realities.

The classroom has to be a sacred space for these hard conversations. Students can detect inauthenticity immediately, so I have to be honest about what we're doing and why it matters. Vulnerability is where learning happens. If I'm not willing to sit in the discomfort with them, they won't engage authentically either.

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