Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Ruth Obernbreit-Glass | larchmont, ny, NY
we are in grave danger is teaching history succumbs to a political agenda that marginalizes black history
Robert Reis | Port Chester, NY
We owe it to the students in empowering all voices in matters of equity and social justice
David Zucker | Joliet, IL
When we link the truth about the past to the reality of the world we continue to live in at the present we have the best possible chance to educate in a way that will create the best possible democracy for the future.
Grace Gonglewski | Philadelphia, PA
It is imperative to speak the truth about our history.
Erin Wallace | Jamaica Plain, MA
Michaelle Larracuente | Providence, RI
I believe in our young people. They deserve the truth to be equipped to truly understand and dismantle our systems of oppression. And to begin to heal. We continue to pass down legacies of trauma and it stops with us.
Raquelle Koontz Bostow | Salvisa, KY
Ariel Brooks | Wadmalaw Island, SC
Arin Keene | Dundalk, MD
Samuel Galloway | Purchase, NY
Tara Winchester | St. Cloud, CA
It is imperative that our children are taught the truth about United States history. I have elementary aged children, I do not want them learning the whitewashed version of history that I was taught in K-12. I will do what I can to supplement what they are taught, correct errors, and provide critical context and information where needed but it would be much more efficient if they were simpy taught the truth from the start.
Tracie Castaldo | Port Chester, NY
Carly Lehnhart | Juneau, AK
Children are the future. It is our responsibility as educators to inspire our students and give them the appropriate resources to make change. Our educational system needs to be dismantled so our children can learn the true history of our world. Our educational system needs to be dismantled so all children can be given an experience in school that builds self confidence, critical thinking skills, and a vision of how solve problems. If we provide them with our true history, our children will be given the information and will be able to grow into citizens who promote the change that we need.
Piper Overbaugh | Burbank, CA
In order for our country to move forward and be more equitable, schools need to teach children the true history of our country.
Jenni Jensen | Cypress, CA
The truth needs to be heard.
Rachel Kulik | Los Angeles, CA
Kimberly Cummins | Bronx, NY
I teach in the poorest congressional district in the nation and they deserve the truth!
Julia Cicchetti | Northfield, VT
I want to help make a better world for my students, and I want to help them make a better world for themselves.
Megan Gibbs | Fullerton, CA
Students deserve to know the truth!
Tracy Avery | Wake Forest, NC
I believe the truth is the only thing that will set us free from trauma and racism. We can't heal if we continue to deny that harm has been done.
Marilyn Hauschild | Overland Park, KS
Stephanie Geller | Lynn, MA
Ashlyn Wardenburg | Katy, TX
during a global pandemic teachers have so much more to worry about than legislators signing new laws to control their classroom
Ann Fraser | Richland, WA
Truth matters and we can only get closer to the truth by considering multiple perspectives.
Virginia Barkas GR
this censorship is too dangerous to not rebel against. It is impossible to teach US history without naming the role of race has played and continues to play in our country and world. The US was founded on forced labor and the effects of the transatlantic slave trade are still felt around the world. In the US in particular, racism (explicit and systemic) continues to exist and is the reason for too many murders of Black and Indigenous peoples, and peoples of color. Submitting to this censorship would negatively affect real lives and perpetuate these injustices for years to come. Not only will lives needlessly be lost due to racism, but our nation will continue to die metaphorically at the hands of ignorance and cruelty, especially those of BIPOC identities. Our future generations deserve to receive an honest and better education so that they have the tools to create a better and more equitable and equal society—so that they can pursue happiness. So that they can have a better life than those of previous generations.
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.