The way we teach now

Here is my first attempt at answering (I would love to hear your answers) the question to Linda Morse's thought provoking article, "A Letter to America: Why We Need a New History Education" http://hnn.org/article/176379

Q1. What histories have Americans internalized about people of color and/or women in relation to American exceptionalism and patriarchal systems? Why do any of us believe what we do today? How have history textbooks and history teachers shaped any American’s understanding of the world?

A1. Can't generalize about all Americans. But I think Americans are most focused on the results of women. They can vote, play sports, run for office. This makes them feel good and does or I think has contributed to a feeling of American exceptionalism. [Note: Teach American exceptionalism is one of only two bullet points of President Trump's educational agenda in 2020.]

Q2. How is relegating a historian of the importance of Dr. Woodson [historian most famous for creation of Black History Week, now Month] to semi-invisibility any different than the Nazi act of claiming that those who were Jewish created science that was useless?

A2 Well, a big difference. If Dr. Woodson isn't a name everyone can recall most people know of black history month. And many schools, institutions, and governments commemorate the month with events. To put it more bluntly I think every historian, regardless of race, has been relegated to semi-invisibility. [Prove me wrong.]

Q3. How does not learning about these facts [about American and African-American history mentioned in the article] cause students to shape their understandings of the abilities and agencies of both whites and nonwhites?

A3. I am not sure. But anecdotally I've met many people are interested in learning the history that was missed. The best seller list often proves this. There are other people, most conspicuously the President who think of it as something unnecessary being forced into their lives: "we grew up with a certain history and now they’re trying to change our history." A historical form of affirmative action (in the negative sense to those with these views).

Q4. How can history teachers and textbook authors structure history education to significantly decrease the biases, racism, and violence we see today?

A4. I think the best way is to teach the most up to date courses – keep up with the research. In US history that means placing the US in an international or global context. In world history it means teaching a true world history and not warmed over Western Civ.

Q5. How can teachers and textbook authors stop creating a false sense of white or male superiority, stop shaping implicit biases that support white superiority, and stop developing the minds of our population to believe that people of color are somehow less valuable? How can educators at all levels move from teaching about history from a victim perspective to one of agency?

A5. Better texts that incorporate an international context and the most up to date scholarship in the fields. Well behaved women seldom make history. Nor do well behaved people of all categories. It is one of our duties to bring these "well behaved" individuals and people into the story.

As teachers we should highlight the upstanders. We should also be more cognizant of the case studies we choose as we move to the case study approach, by necessity, to cover material. And choose those that have fought for the unalienable rights of people around the world. (Are the unalienable rights listed in the Declaration of Independence universal?)

Jeremy Greene
Chelmsford HS

Before the school year ended last year, but after the murder of George Floyd, I put together a slide show of 45 minutes for my US History II students that attempted to teach U.S. History from the perspective of people of color. I started with the foundation of the country and ended with James Baldwin's Letter to my Nephew. I described the definition of slavery in Africa and how it was distorted to something entirely different in America. I talked about the fear that the elite felt at the potential of black and white slaves/indentured servants uniting and thus the need for laws against that unity. I noted how historians/textbook authors describe the Stono Rebellion in a few sentences when in reality it was such an impactful event. Over 5000 African Americans fought in the American Revolution - despite not experiencing freedom - so little discussion of the number of Black soldiers during the American Revolution - why? Why not discuss more about the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African diaspora or the arguments developed against the teachings of racial inequality in the 1700s? Prince Hall called for reparations and helped someone receive reparations! Why not discuss more about Liberia and how many Blacks in America were sent to Liberia even if they didn't want to go. Discuss Charles Lenox Remond or the full story of Denmark Vesey or Sarah Remond Parker, Martin Delany, or Robert Campbell.... Black millionaires, Pan-Africanism, Carter Woodson, Dr. Moton's trip to France that reinforced the desire of the veterans to fight discrimination in America. How about the women who led the Pan-African Congress - Miss Jessie Fauset, Mrs. Ida Gibbs Hunt, Mrs. DuBois, - or world travelers such as Max Yergan, the Robesons (actually their passports were taken away from them), Ralph Bunch, Pauli Murray - so many leaders rarely mentioned. How would our students - people of color, white, male, female, nonbinary - see people of color differently? See themselves differently? Would students realize that skin tone does not impact the ability of sharing ideas and actions on an international level? We won't know until we try, but my students commented about why didn't they ever hear of these people or know some of the facts I shared. I was told that several students felt like I was "on their side" and appreciated what I shared. What does that mean for student futures? How can we change one young person at a time in this way? How can we let all students see agency in everyone? What would be the long-term impact of that?

Before the school year ended last year, but after the murder of George Floyd, I put together a slide show of 45 minutes for my US History II students that attempted to teach U.S. History from the perspective of people of color. I started with the foundation of the country and ended with James Baldwin's Letter to my Nephew. I described the definition of slavery in Africa and how it was distorted to something entirely different in America. I talked about the fear that the elite felt at the potential of black and white slaves/indentured servants uniting and thus the need for laws against that unity. I noted how historians/textbook authors describe the Stono Rebellion in a few sentences when in reality it was such an impactful event. Over 5000 African Americans fought in the American Revolution - despite not experiencing freedom - so little discussion of the number of Black soldiers during the American Revolution - why? Why not discuss more about the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African diaspora or the arguments developed against the teachings of racial inequality in the 1700s? Prince Hall called for reparations and helped someone receive reparations! Why not discuss more about Liberia and how many Blacks in America were sent to Liberia even if they didn't want to go. Discuss Charles Lenox Remond or the full story of Denmark Vesey or Sarah Remond Parker, Martin Delany, or Robert Campbell.... Black millionaires, Pan-Africanism, Carter Woodson, Dr. Moton's trip to France that reinforced the desire of the veterans to fight discrimination in America. How about the women who led the Pan-African Congress - Miss Jessie Fauset, Mrs. Ida Gibbs Hunt, Mrs. DuBois, - or world travelers such as Max Yergan, the Robesons (actually their passports were taken away from them), Ralph Bunch, Pauli Murray - so many leaders rarely mentioned. How would our students - people of color, white, male, female, nonbinary - see people of color differently? See themselves differently? Would students realize that skin tone does not impact the ability of sharing ideas and actions on an international level? We won't know until we try, but my students commented about why didn't they ever hear of these people or know some of the facts I shared. I was told that several students felt like I was "on their side" and appreciated what I shared. What does that mean for student futures? How can we change one young person at a time in this way? How can we let all students see agency in everyone? What would be the long-term impact of that?