Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
ezra kohn | Calabasas, CA
Deborah Donahue-Keegan | Medford, MA
Leilani Verango | Kirkland, WA
I learn, teach, and advocate against systemic racism.
Allison Hammer | Acton Town of, MA
We need to know about our past so we can do better in our future.
Janine Jeff Baah | Atlanta , GA
I will teach the truth no matter what.
Carolee Barber | Concord, NC
The truth is essential!
Billie Sue Lyons | Huntsville, TX
The truth about our American History needs to be taught no matter how horrific it may be because it is truth. The truth shall set you free.
Jenifer King | Las Vegas, NV
Students deserve the truth of the building and the sustenance of our nation. They will be the ones to dismantle the horrific systems designed and built by oppressors, enslavers, rapists, murderers, and supremacists, but as long as they are taught the whitewash, they will continue to believe that they are either entitled to be superior (white) or that they don't really exist (all other colors and backgrounds). We cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.
Katie Wilkinson | Sandy, UT
I want my son, and my students to learn to think critically about the world around them. Whitewashing history and the world will not prepare them for lives outside of school, and outside of their parents.
Robert Lieberman | Elkins Park, PA
As a young student, I was never exposed to the atrocious real history in America. Today’s students deserve better! They desperately need to hear the truth, so they may make informed decisions in life.
Kacey Dewing | Medford, OR
I teach truth so students can learned the history of the United States in order to make it better.
Leenisha Stennis | Columbus, OH
I want my students to know thé truth.
William Anderson | Imperial, CA
The truth will set you free.
Gene Thompson-Grove | Newport, RI
Jillian Miesen | St. Louis, MO
I will not whitewash history and hinder minority perspectives in my class. I will honor every voice and every history, just as primary and secondary sources report.
Danley Phillips | Lehi, UT
I will teach history and facts.
Sylvia Duckworth | Toronto, ON, CA
Students need to know true history.
Kevin Smith | Jacksonville, FL
My students are capable of learning and thinking critically about a diverse range of subjects. I will not lower my expectations of them or the quality of my instruction in order to appease the fickle winds of political favor.
Mike Maes | Pueblo, CO
Alison Baran | Pikesville, MD
Our children deserve the truth!
Shawn Powell | Santee, CA
I believe that a better understanding of the true history of our country will lead to a better version of our country in the future.
RONDA MCINTYRE | Columbus, OH
We only evolve as a nation if young people learn the truth about our history. As a teacher of American History in 4th grade and of the western hemisphere in 5th, oppression of minorities and those without wealth and power or is a fact. This history has become our legacy as systemic racism and marginalization of " others" remains a daily reality for so many, including my students. The way forward is NOT to sweep it under the rug.
Debra Marshall | Melbourne, FL
I am concerned that my state’s recent legislation will stifle my ability to teach students about how they fit into our histories and why they fit where they fit in society today. Being white is not mutually exclusive to the goals of contextually teaching the reality of various American histories and the roles of various groups within that history. Young people understand this, and it is our job to be both thoughtful and critical when we have discussions about race, gender, class and other methods of social classification. Having the state legislate teaching by eradicating the voices of minorities is scary, and while it might just be happening in the social sciences today, the path is now open for this kind of regulation to happen in all disciplines.
Crystal Isaac | New York, NY
If we do not teach students the true history of this country, how will they know how to avoid the same mistakes in the future. Teaching them about the past will enable them to have more empathy and respect for others who they may see as different from them.
Jenny Richard | Sherman, TX
I believe my role as a history teacher is to create informed citizens who make a better world. My students need to know where we came from, the mistakes we've made as a country, so they can try to do better in the future. I want it country to be a place where everyone is truly equal and able to pursue their dreams without threats of violence or systemic racism. That can't happen unless we address the inequalities of the past.
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.