Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Jennifer Gaye | Independence, MO
My biracial daughter and all of our students deserve to learn our true history. “One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” – Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 1963 We, the undersigned educators, refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events.
Karla Randle-Jackson | Charlotte, NC
I currently teach in North Carolina and our school did a year long book study on White Fragility as a faculty and staff. It was the most impactful experience for us all. I was one of three people of color who were leading the study. There are only six other persons of color in our lower school division which means the remainder of the faculty are white. The feedback from faculty was positive and they shared that it opened their eyes to things they never knew or considered. They learned many new truths. This is why it is imperative that the truth continues to be told about the injustices that have existed in this country since the beginning of it’s inception. The truth will set us all free.
Katherine Metcalf | Durham, NC
Landis Brown | Manchester, NH
As a new teacher committed to teaching social justice, I will not whitewash the atrocities of our past to appease those unwilling to recognize that our country was built on the genocide of Native Americans and on the labor of racial slavery.
Lynda Abuah | Corona, CA
I believe that the truth never changes but people do. History should always be based on concrete facts.
Ebony Davis | Milwaukee, WI
I believe in teaching the truth.
Allie Horton | Arlington, MA
Kristie Edwards | Arvada, CO
Because scientists like George Washington Carver can change a future!
Sandra Levin | New York, NY
our nation cannot move forward if it denies its white male privileged history. Our children need to know the truth so they can become responsible, empathic citizens. Justice for All!
Natalie Billo | Citrus Heights, CA
I am passionate about teaching the true history of the United States and not just the white-washed version. I am a white woman who grew up in South Dakota in the 1980s and 1990s where I learned history from a European perspective. When I moved to California, I took ethnic studies courses and learned history I had never been taught before. I changed my major to ethnic studies because of the passion I felt about learning the true history of the United States. When I became a teacher, I made a promise to myself that I would not stay silent about the history of the United States, both good and bad. ALL of our students deserve to know the truth.
Moira Spillane | New York, NY
The truth matters. Justice matters.
Steven Zemelman | Evanston, IL
Young people will only be able to contribute to the improvement of this democracy and show their love for it if the learn full and accurate history about its achievements and its failings. They will also need to learn how to advocate for and make changes that improve their community, and to act to interrupt racism where they see it.
Chryssa Best | Seattle, WA
We can only learn from History if it is has been taught truthfully. Fiction should be distinguishable from non-fiction!
Kathryn Storlien | Rockford, MN
Our ability to educate and view the worlds event from all perspectives is critical to us healing past trauma and atrocities. We can not hide from systems of racism that were built to marginalize and block non-white peoples from resources and their basic humanity.
Joseph Capuano | Staunton, VA
I feel that, as a person of privilege, I need to commit myself to teaching our students about the complete truth about our country’s and world’s history, both the good and the bad. This isn’t to get students to feel ashamed about who they are, or even who their ancestors were, or to single out students who unfairly face marginalization, but rather for all of us to commit to learning and teaching about the sins of our past and present. By learning (both students and teachers) and teaching about these things, we can mitigate the injustice faced by so many people, especially BIPOC and other minority groups facing marginalization, in our past and present day. In this way, we can teach about how we can achieve a world with “Liberty and Justice for All!”
Irazema Guerrero | San Leandro, CA
estudiantes merecen saber la verdad de nuestra historia para aprender de los ancestros, no cometer los mismos errores, y crear un futuro donde cada persona tiene el derecho de vivir una vida libre, sin opresión o violencia.
Diane Bugler | Peabody, MA
As an educator, I need to be honest and truthful about our history and pledge to help bring change for a equitable future.
Jin Yun | San Jose, CA
I believe that all of our students deserve to learn the truth.
Ella-Kari Loftfield | Albuquerque, NM
"History is not the past, it is the present." James Baldwin
Lisa S | San Antonio, TX
As an educator we are agents of change by default and must speak the truth no matter what…silence is abuse!
Ashley Ulferts | Rockford, IL
This matters.
Debra Cullom | Kansas City, MO
I believe in justice for all.
Nalini Ferreira CA
Janelle Miles | Grand Rapids, MI
I am signing in honor of my beautiful and brilliant Black and Brown students; my ELL's, refugees, LGTBQIA+, and their allies; my White students who are still understanding their privilege; and the future of our nation and our world.
Ann Jordan | Scranton, PA
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.