Years ago, probably about 6-10 years by now, I listened to a series of lectures available for free on the internet as part of the Open Yale Courses program.
Those lectures were part of the "The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877" course with Professor David W. Blight, available here at Open Yale Courses, or in playlist form here on youtube.
It taught me... a lot, that I largely did not learn in school. I find myself thinking about it often, because that history is constantly relevant to the present day.
Focusing
Before listening to those lectures, I thought I couldn't listen to podcasts. It was always so hard, almost impossible, to listen and pay attention to an audio only recording. And at first, I was having the same problems trying to watch those lectures on youtube. I couldn't focus. I had had these same stuggles when I was in school, but to a lesser extent. (I realize now I was coping by constantly doodling when I was supposed to be taking notes. It helped me focus.)
Eventually, I realized if I played a video game with the sound muted while I listened to the lecture in the background, I could pay attention! To anyone who has the same problems, I reccommend playing a game that requires no reading, is either very "physical", like a platformer, "grindy", like coli-grinding on flight rising, or some kind of near-mindless puzzle game like bejeweled or peggle.
Background
I grew up in the united states, and if you grew up in the united states, you are probably familiar with the american public school system. I also grew up in the southern united states, and if you grew up in the south, you are probably familiar with the confederate flag.
As a child and teenager, I was not actually NOT that familiar with the confederate flag, or indeed with the civil war at all. My immediate family was and is relatively liberal, and neither of my parents were interested in or proud of any "confederate heritage". Also, we lived in oklahoma, which wasn't yet a state during the civil war, so you are somewhat less likely to come across confederate monuments. (Though they were still there, just maybe not as ubiquitous as other southern states. Easy for a disinterested child to not notice.)
Thinking about it now, it seems crazy how easy it was to just... not care about the civil war, considering how recent and relevant slavery, the civil war, reconstruction and it's backlash, and the civil rights movement are. Obviously, this is a very sheltered, very white perspective, and I imagine it is much harder if not impossible to ignore if you are, for example, black.
I knew OF the american civil war, by which I mean I knew that it had to do with america, it happened a long time ago, and that the two sides were the "union" and the "confederacy". That was more or less the extent of my knowledge and interest.
Similarly, I knew OF slavery, by which I mean I knew that black peopled used to be enslaved, and it was very bad, but Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and it's over now and not a big deal anymore. I knew OF racism and segregation, by which I mean I knew that some people used to think that black people were inferior and shouldn't use the same water fountains or ride the same buses or go to the same schools as white people, but Martin Luther King Jr. changed all the racist's minds and ended segregation.
If this seems very simplistic and childish, that's because is it. That's all I was taught in elementery school, and I didn't learn much more after that.
In fairness, I dropped out of high school in the 10th grade and got a ged. It's possible I would have been taught a little more if I had stayed in school. Even still, though, I'd argue that it's pretty messed up that you can make it to the 10th grade, aka 15+ years of age, and still know so little about something as important and relevant as slavery. Or the civil rights movement.
I could have told you plenty about "Land Run Day", which had its own yearly holiday at my elementery school where all the classrooms would be converted into old timey shops run by the teachers, where you could buy big jars of pickles, or corn husk dolls, or churn your own butter. And afterwards, every child would reenact the land run itself. You'd be given a little stake with a flag on it, and your parents could be there and they would have packed some supplies like a wagon, towels, and food, and all the kids would run across a big grassy field, claim a spot, and have a picnic. At some point the teachers would make us watch Oklahoma! the musical.
Land Run Day itself is, of course, problematic as well. Much later, I learned from my mother that most of the native american parents wouldn't send their kids to school that day. I can't say I blame them.
I couldn't have told you about the Tulsa race massacre, where mobs of white residents burned down Greenwood, known as "Black Wall Street", despite Tulsa being a mere hour-and-a-half drive from where I lived.
I could have told you about the Murrah Building bombing, which happened when I was a baby. I've been to the memorial and museum at least twice on school field trips, and can remember vividly walking through the museum, standing in a room that plays a recording of a phone call that took place during the bombing, walking through the daycare memorial full of pictures of dead little kids who would have been the same age as me. And of course, I walked right past a display in the museum of a KKK outfit, neither recognizing it nor knowing that Timothy McVeigh had been a white supremacist.