Dear History Textbooks

Dear history textbooks,

Do you realize how much power you have? Your words, stories, and photographs fall in the hands of millions and millions of students every single day. However, depending on the words you choose (or not choose), the stories you tell (or not tell), and the photographs you share (or not share), the understanding of America’s past and present changes. In America today, there is no common set of facts, which means we have not collectively come to a consensus of the truth. Even if we have the same fact, it is evident our reflections of facts don’t align. Truth is resistance when we seem to be living in a post-truth world. Understanding history holistically provides a foundation for understanding struggles, resistances, and contemporary fights for justice.

You have the power to teach about what being a citizen means.

You have the power to teach about our country’s deep scars through the context of race-relations that have shaped today’s social issues and divides.

You have the power to shift the focus of thinking about who is “racist”, to thinking about how people are impacted by racial institutional inequities over time.

You have the power to teach about our country’s leaders in a way that presents their achievements, but also exposes their blind spots and weaknesses.

You have the power to teach about how groups and individuals have fought and attained self-determination, and the importance of doing so today in a time when self-determination has been intentionally destructed.  

You have the power to teach about systemic failures that have resulted in vast racial disparities and how we need to not perpetuate them, but use that knowledge as a rationale for empowerment in communities of color.

You have the power to support students in understanding the growing diversity within our country, so they know that there are limitless possibilities in themselves and the many students sitting next to them throughout their education. And they know that each person sitting next to them - both in school and their future - is valued and worthy.

You have the power to break the growth of normalized hate and discrimination intoxicating the climate through teaching about radical self-love and integrity.

You have the power to teach that power is not a zero sum game, but that there is infinite power in the world and that we all can become powerful and successfully meet the demands we want for a better world.

High school history textbooks, you have fundamental powers in our education, and I hope that you take your role in shaping our understanding of our past and present seriously. The empowerment and potential for meaningful civic engagement of our youth leaders and our country’s future is in your hands.