Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Brandon Hawk | Johnston, RI
Kirsten Rossum | Elk River, MN
students have a right to learn about all of history, not just the text written by white men and women that disregard the truths of people of color.
Sarah Willner | Oakland, CA
There is a huge shift that needs to happen to tell the truth about the history of this country, founded on the genocide of indigenous people in order to steal their lands. As well, wealth was built by enslaving others, especially Africans, for the past 400 years. Capitalists used and continue to use racism as a reason to strip the land and other people of resources.
Danielle Howard | Los Angeles, CA
Truth matters!
Charlie Martel | Annapolis, MD
the purpose of education is teach the truth, as we are given to know it, and to help our students learn the skills they need to find the truth in their studies, their work, and their lives. Part of the truth of American history is our noble principles and achievements. But part of it is our tragedies and how we have fallen short of those principles. We need to teach children about racism in our history, and racism now, in our country. This is particularly true as to racism against Black people in this country. The attacks on fields such as Critical Race Theory and work such as the New York Times "1619 Project" are wrong, and laws and political censorship of these and similar studies violates the First Amendment. Of course all these studies are subject to free and fair debate, but it is wrong to ban or demonize them. Nothing is more American than honest exploration and reflection with the goal of making things better and righting wrongs.
MEREDITH Coffin | Stratham, NH
My students deserve to know the whole story so that they can be better informed citizens, and humans who recognize that everyone has their own story and experience.
Sara Rich | Conway, SC
As a professor at a state university in South Carolina, I am concerned that misinformed policies and positions among our state leaders, who promise to prohibit instruction about the causes and effects of racial disparities in our country and in our state, will have a negative impact on all students. Honest history matters. And it is for this reason that I am particularly concerned that historical and cultural omissions from classroom curricula will have a disproportionate impact on our Indigenous, Black, Hispanic, and Asian students. Legislation such as SC H 3002 and SC H 4325 are examples of “curricula discrimination.”We all know how essential it is for students to recognize themselves in their own education, and we all know the importance of understanding the past in order to understand why we are where we are - as a nation, as a people, and as citizens. Inhibiting fact-based classroom instruction on matters of history and race inhibits inquiries into our identities and duties as citizens. Such curricular inhibitions amount to state-sponsored censorship and racially-motivated indoctrination, and there is no place for either in South Carolina or anywhere in the United States of America.
Ben Denton | Southern Pines, NC
Brenna Barringer | Richmond, VA
Farrell Vaughn | Reno, NV
I teach hard history
Josh Coran | Saugus, MA
You can't whitewash history by cutting out the parts you don't like.
Rebecca Moericke | Fairfax, VA
I pledge to teach the truth, because I will not minimize or make my student feel invisible. I will not participate in the whitewashing of our National history to promote the inequitable and unjust status quo. I will teach and affirm my students' identities, and protect and celebrate their voice. History should be the truth, not a work of fiction.
Sydney Hart | Chicago, IL
We cannot solve social problems unless we fully understand their genesis and contemporary manifestations. Racism, especially but not only against Black people, is a root cause of many current social problems from police brutality to economic injustice. If we cannot understand the history of racism in the U.S., we cannot eradicate it.
Walter Miske | Pflugerville, TX
Daniel Grenier | Laurel, MD
I refuse to allow laws to obstruct teachers from educating students with the most current, accurate, and researched information.
Jody Zirkelbach | Racine, WI
It is important for us to share ALL of our history and not just what is comfortable for us to recall. Our children deserve to know the truth about the past so they can make informed decisions about how to act and what to do in the future.
Abbie Huck | Kenosha, WI
Elizabeth Blake
It is my job to provide accurate information to my students, and to allow them to draw conclusions based on the data available.
Cedrita Demus | Tallahassee, FL
All children deserve to learn the truth about the country and the world they live in. The truth should not be hidden to appease the feelings of a certain group. The atrocities that were committed against the First Peoples and the Africans needs to be rectified. We will continue to stay stagnant and be at odds in this country if the truth is never exposed. Learning the truth will provide an opportunity for healing, growth and real partnership amongst citizens.
Heather Levine | Malden, MA
I will always fight for the right to teach the truth.
Dana Pollock | Bainbridge, GA
D Myrie | Bronx, NY
Teaching History Is about teaching the truth
Robin Cooper | Cincinnati, OH
It is the truth that will make us free. Children of all ages need to know the history of this country as it directly affects the present. We must teach our students to be interruptors of the status quo not perpetrators of it. The truth heals.
Sarinea Meserkhani | Tujunga, CA
Dylab de Guzman | Garden Grove, CA
it is important for people to take ownership back of their education.
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.