Summary: A Texas mother was shocked to find out that in her son's World Geography textbook they had downplayed the role of slavery, simply saying that Africans had immigrated to the Americas for work. Her argument is that this implies that they were paid and completely erases slavery from history. After her Instagram post sighting this misinformation, the textbook company reviewed the textbook and decided to revise it.
Analysis: This article really brings back the question of "Who writes history?" In this case, the Texas legislature does when they adopt textbooks such as the one mentioned in the article. I am proud to teach the College Board curriculum for US History that encourages students to analyze history through critical thinking and diverse texts. When we get to looking at the Texas curriculum to prepare for the STAAR test in the future, you might see the stark differences between what each group of historians expects students to know about history. I am glad that this Texas mother and son were paying attention to the textbook and stood up against perpetuating ignorance. There are many times in history that average people have stood up for change and made a difference. One instance that comes to mind is the Brown vs. Board of Education case in 1954 in which a Mother and daughter in Kansas (and several others actually) fought to end segregation in public schools. They won. And although it took a long time for segregation to officially end, (some might say it still exists today) eventually they made a difference in so many lives. This text book case is small, but very important to me as a history teacher and believer in education. The fight against ignorance is real and I choose to fight it every day.
Link to Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texan-mom-wins-fight-against-textbook-that-erased-slavery/ar-AAf8ooX?ocid=spartandhp
****Note from Mrs. C: This is what I'm looking for when it comes to Current Events. I couldn't resist posting a sample about this article in particular. It is SO easy to relate to our class as we learn history in a Texas classroom, while concurrently viewing history through the APUSH curriculum. Try to choose a story that is easy to relate to U.S. history so that your analysis is easy to write. If your article is sort of a stretch, then use your creativity to bring it back to our subject: US History. From now on, I will grade analysis based on your synthesis and your ability to relate your current issues to the past.
Nicholas Godfrey Period 8:
ReplyDeleteI find it quite shocking that Texas didn't catch this mistake. I've been seeing many of these occurrences of people catching mistakes in textbooks. For example, the APUSH curriculum had to be revised due to it being too liberally biased. The question "Who writes history?" really struck something with me when I read it. I was thinking about how all this history that we are reading could have not been true at all and we would be none the wiser.