History

 

Women’s history is American history. Black history is American history. Asian history is American history. Hispanic history is American history. Europeans were immigrants, too.  Native American history is the original American story.  So what is this crap they are teaching in schools as American history? Read more here. What should be taught? Read what the American Historical Association has to say about teaching history with integrity here.

—- Wild Cooking Woman

 

Reliable non-partisan political analysis can be found on sites like:

 

 

The Pew Research Center just published its ninth political typology, the latest portrait of the groups that make up America’s political landscape. The typology reveals nine distinct groups, each defined by its own mix of values, beliefs, and experiences. Take the quiz and see where you are. (This is an old video, but it is useful for understanding the thinking behind the quiz.) Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank. As a neutral source of data and analysis, Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.

 

 

Want the truth? Go to the source. The source documents at The Avalon Project are available to all of us. I was reading the constitution of the Confederate States as they attempted to withdraw from the United States in the 1860s.  The Civil War wasn’t about “states’ rights.” It was about the ability of certain people to own other people.

 

 

 

Are Americans one people, or many? Read “The ‘Two Ships’ Theory of American History” by James Traub in theatlantic.com  (paywall). Historians often contrast the Mayflower (1620) and early slave ships—like the White Lion (1619)—as two rival founding symbols representing America’s core divide. The former represents the origins of democratic ideals, while the latter marks the introduction of chattel slavery into English-speaking North America. If you are inclined to spend money, and are thinking academically, read “The Mayflower and the Slave Ship: Pilgrim-Puritan Origins in the Antebellum Black Imagination” by Kenyon Gradert, MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S., Oxford University Press, Volume 44, Number 3, Fall 2019, pp. 63-90 HERE. 

 

 

 

Watch Ken Burns’ documentary about the American Revolution.

 

 

Fourteenth Amendment

Section 1:  All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

 

 

Your score is your business.

 

 

Here are a few resources for teaching or learning accurately about American history:

A few historical events that might not be taught today:
 
 

What should be taught in American high school history classes? See what the American Historical Association thinks here.

1. Secondary US history teachers are professionals who are concerned mostly with helping their students learn central elements of our nation’s history. Teachers want students to read and understand founding documents to prepare them for informed civic engagement. They also want students to grapple with the complex history and legacies of racism and slavery. These goals are entirely compatible. We did not find indoctrination, politicization, or deliberate classroom malpractice.

2. Teachers make important curricular decisions with direct influence over what students are expected to learn. Despite legislative interference, the localized influence of state-mandated assessment, and efforts to standardize instruction, history teachers retain substantial discretion over what they use in their daily work.

3. Free online resources outweigh traditional textbooks, which are unlikely to stand at the center of history instruction. While publishers pitch digital licenses and tech tools to districts, teachers instead make prolific use of a decentralized universe of no-cost or low-cost online resources. US history teachers used to be able to rely on a short list of trusted sites led by federal institutions, including the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and the Smithsonian museums.

American Lesson Plan distills insights gathered during a two-year exploration of secondary history education, combining a 50-state appraisal of standards and legislation with a close examination of local contexts in nine states. What did we learn? Secondary US history teachers are professionals primarily concerned with helping their students learn central elements of our nation’s history. Teachers want students to read and understand the founding documents to prepare them for informed civic engagement. (more)

 

 

Did you know that¦

Here are some sites for more information about black history:

 

     

     

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