Drawing from the historical lens of cultural memory, I examined the development of three social studies pre-service teachers' African American history knowledge. The participants were engaged in a rigorous summer reading program dedicated to learning African American history. This qualitative case study examined both pre and post interpretations of African American history and discussed the varied ways the subject was interpreted by the pre-service teachers. The findings indicated that the reading program influenced African American history knowledge both positively and negatively. The paper ends with recommendations for teacher educators interested in expanding the development of pre-service teachers' knowledge of African American history.