Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Stefanie Skiljan | Seattle, WA
If we do not learn and reflect upon history then we are bound to repeat it.
Mark Stansbery | Columbus, OH
Critical thinking is as American as apple pie
Leigh Tolley | Lafayette, LA
We need to know about and try to understand all of history in order to learn how to be better people.
Maxine McKinney de Royston | Madison, WI
Our youth and our communities are watching and deserve an education that values and explores the diverse perspectives and experiences that constitute U.S. history, and other disciplinary areas. We must learn about our past, including that which is difficult and violent, in order to understand contemporary issues and tensions and build towards more just futures.
Courtney Rath | Phoenix, AZ
As bell hooks teaches, loving people means telling them the truth, and I love my students.
Andrea Allen | Bellmead, TX
Our students deserve the knowledge and the truth that will lead to equitable change for future generations. We have a duty to teach curriculum more realistically matched to what has happened and what is continuing to happen in the United States.
Shay Smith | Lafayette, LA
History cannot be changed. Only learned from.
Leslie Harris-Johnston | Kirkland, WA
I believe that the entire truth of history needs to be taught to all students.
Nancy Knapp | Athens, GA
Lying to students about anything, but especially the history of their own country and people, is just plain wrong.
Joyce Frohn | Oshkosh, WI
I want my daughter to have a real education not one with lies.
William Sparks | Pasadena, CA
Our students won't be able to work together unless theey know our history.
Patricia Bradford | Washington, DC
“A people who do not know their history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of their pasts.”
bryn pennington | Lafayette, CO
Vanessa Small | Monroe, LA
We are tired of all the lies in our history books. "We the People" did not include women, Native Americans, Mexicans, immigrants, nor people of color. It's time to talk about the manifest destiny that killed a country's original inhabitants that doesn't even the Trail of Tears and entire page. Santa Anna was a dictator who was protecting the land his people had owned for centuries, and we don't even talk about the lynchings in Texas. American is only a melting pot idea that hasn't always welcomed the poor and lowly from other countries. Mainly, people of color were used, abused, raped, killed, and taught by Willie Lynch that the black man wasn't worth a dime. It's time to teach our children the real truth before they repeat it.
Katherine Parsons | Moseley, VA
Joanna Sinha | Maplewood, MO
Educators are well-trained, and we can tell what are good resources for the age groups we teach.
Brenna Cowardin | Washington, DC
Jean Burger | Arlington, MA
Megan Breaux | Lafayette, LA
Steven Sandman | Pine Plains, NY
Until we start with truth, we cannot become the country we write about in our historical documents.
Stephanie Carter | Mooresville, IN
Students need to know the true history of events.
Mujahidun Sumchai | Richmond, CA
Lying to students must stop. I had teachers that lied to me in high school. Withholding the truth of events in our society eventually becomes known. These cultural/social healing conversations are essential and necessary. People will NOT hate each other but learn to appreciate the all of us in a true social democracy. I had to wait for college, graduate school and professional school to learn non-eurocentric ideas that benefit our worlds today. And, that student loan debt is so big it will outlive me.
Krista Woodward | Santa Clara, CA
I pledge to avoid causing harm to others.
Adam Machson-Carter | Jamaica Plain, MA
I believe it is a moral imperative to teach the truth even when that truth may be difficult, uncomfortable, or challenge long-held myths about American exceptionalism. If we lie (or leave out the truth) to young people growing up in our society, we do them a terrible disservice. Real care and respect for students and families begins with telling the truth, a basic value that we all seek to imbue in our children.
Allison Baer | Jeromesville, OH
Truth must be taught so we know how to better discern truth from lies. We must be critical thinkers.
Selected Pledges
Click on pledge below to read many more.
As an educator who is serious about teaching the truth I will not be bullied into silence. I will do my part in the fight for equity and equality by making sure my students are most equipped to fight this ugliness in the real world.
Yes, the truth of American history needs to be taught, but also its impact on the rest of the world, such as its role in WWII. I just finished teaching a college-level course on the Holocaust, and could not believe how little the students knew about the rest of the world’s participation in the war! They seemed to believe that WWII was ended by the US alone!
“When you begin to do things that raise the achievement of the poorest and disenfranchised students, you may not always get applause. You need to be ready for that.” Dr. Asa Hilliard
“Resistance is a powerful motivator precisely because it enables us to fulfill our longing to achieve our goals while letting us boldly recognize and name the obstacles to those achievements.”
Dr. Derrick Bell
Our young people deserve the truth and it is our kuleana (responsibility) to give space and opportunity for the truth and the difficult conversations.
If we don’t teach it all, we teach nothing…
Social justice is a major theme of my Humanities 7 course, and my school uses Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s HILL framework (development of identity, skills, knowledge, Criticality) to frame our entire curriculum. Student agency through research work and essay writing, and action-oriented civic engagement work, define what we “cover” in my course.