history education

Letters From an American, May 2, 2021

by Heather Cox Richardson

Mitch McConnell's demands that the Department of Education reject a proposal for social studies education that emphasizes antiracism shows that his party is more interested in using education to wage a culture war than in actually improving civics and history education. 

Why Republican Efforts to Ban the 1619 Project from Classrooms are so Misguided

by Seth Rockman

"Ultimately the deep concern about the 1619 Project’s truth-telling concerning the American past is not that it puts patriotism at risk, but rather that it jeopardizes particular versions of the American future," including a recent Heritage Foundation report that is mostly concerned that the 1619 project will lessen the appeal of libertarian capitalism. 

An Honest History of Texas Begins and Ends With White Supremacy

by Casey Michel

Amanda Vickery of the University of North Texas says that recent proposals in the Texas legislature for a curriculum of Texas patriotism won't acknowledge the way that slavery and white supremacy were central to the Republic of Texas. 

Controversial NC Social Studies Guidelines Strike A Nerve With Public And Officials

"Members of the state Board of Education say they’ve gotten thousands of emails about proposed new social studies standards just since last week’s special meeting. The debate over how to address racism, oppression and gender identity is clearly striking a nerve."

Lawmakers Push to Ban ‘1619 Project’ From Schools

"Attempts to ban the materials 'stem from a really unfortunate misreading of the project itself,' said Mark Schulte, the Pulitzer Center’s education director. The lessons aren’t designed to convince students to believe certain ideas, but rather to encourage them to question, he said."

Defending the 1619 Project in the Context of History Education Today

by Alan J. Singer

Critics of the 1619 project may dispute particular claims or interpretations, but an understanding of the minimal attention devoted to slavery and its legacies in secondary school curricula shows that the project is badly needed. 

White House Issues Proclamation on Columbus Day

The White House used the occasion of Columbus Day to attack historical revisionism and the use of "racially divisive concepts" in workplace training. 

"Provided I Can Fuse on Ground Which I Think is Right": A Lincolnian View of the White House History Conference

by Allen C. Guelzo

"The fact that Americans have not always lived up fully to that Enlightenment universalism, or that ethnicity has often gotten bloodily in the way of it, merely shows that we are human, not that it is wrong."

The Root of American Power

by Megan Beyer

"October is National Arts and Humanities Month. Observing what happens in America when we fail to protect them, invest in them, and recognize their value, is the best case that could ever be made for the Arts and Humanities."

Ben Railton Joins "Keeping Democracy Alive" to Talk "Patriotic Education"

American Studies scholar Ben Railton discusses his upcoming book "Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism" and the political hijacking of the patriotic ideal. 

'Students Need to Know the Harrowing Truth': Teachers on Black History in the Curriculum

British history educators and scholars discuss a proposal to make Black history a compulsory part of the national history curriculum. 

Combatting History “Indoctrination” in 1945 and 2020

by Brian M. Puaca

As the new 1776 Commission begins to consider how to wield history as a weapon against indoctrination, America’s educational work in Germany can serve as a guidepost for a commitment to preparing vigilant young men and women to build and defend democracy.

Trump's 1776 Education Plan Part of a Decades-Long, Right-Wing Movement — But Scarier

by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Today's battle over patriotic education doesn't just threaten a particular curriculum or course of social studies teaching, but is part of a broad attack on critical inquiry and public education. 

"Heroes of Our America": Reading a "Patriotic" History of the United States

by Alan J. Singer

Not long ago, history textbooks were written as patriotic fables. Examining one offers a warning about the cost of putting mythmaking ahead of historical learning.

Donald Trump's "1776 Commission" for "Patriotic Education"

by HNN Staff

A compilation of HNN coverage of Donald Trump's call for a "1776 Commission" to enforce the teaching of "patriotic" history. 

Trump’s Comments on History Point Down a Stalinist Road

by Walter G. Moss

During the 1930s, Stalin directed historians and schools to teach patriotism to help convince Soviet citizens that, like earlier Russian leaders such as Alexander Nevsky, Ivan the Terrible, and Peter the Great, he was defending Russian interests.

The 1776 Unites Project Is an Exercise in Empty Capitalist Boosterism

by Timothy Messer-Kruse

A pilot curriculum proposed by Black conservatives as an alternative to "victimhood" allegedly promoted by the 1619 Project is mostly an assemblage of business jargon and individual uplift rhetoric. Whatever it is, it isn't history.

What Trump Doesn’t Understand About U.S. History

by Sean Wilentz

The real choice isn’t between Trump’s rendition of our history and the 1619 Project’s. It’s between ideological distortion and respect for facts, skepticism about pat answers and, above all, refusal to shape the past to fit a fixed political agenda.

AHA Statement on the Recent "White House Conference on American History”

The AHA only reluctantly gives air to such distraction; we are not interested in inflating a brouhaha that is a mere sideshow to the many perils facing our nation at this moment. 

The White House Conference on History

by HNN Staff

On September 17, Constitution Day, the White House convened a panel discussion of the importance of history to the nation, devoting strong criticism to recent trends emphasizing the importance of racism to the founding and development of the nation.