Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Amber Thornton | Milwaukee, WI
If we don’t teach our youth the true history, we are destined to repeat it. Our students deserve to know accurate history, not a censored version like something from a dystopian novel.
Patricia Weaver | Atlanta, GA
kathleen marrs | Indianapolis, IN
Jane Marcellus | Murfreesboro, TN
These restrictions are fascist.
Kellen Deau | Kalamazoo, MI
Karena Martin | San Mateo, CA
Sarah Walsh | Salt Lake City, UT
Jack Werstein | Washington, DC
The facts must be known, in order for students to gain the ability to think and analyze freely, on their own.
Gregory Esteve | Lake Wales, FL
The truth matters!
Don Haring | Skippack Twp, PA
I believe in freedom and justice for all, and there is still work to be done.
Abigail Quinn | Fairfax, VA
The only way we can change the future for the better is by having honest conversations about the past.
Catherine Graham , WA
Students deserve the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in order to think critically and make informed decisions. Our children deserve a better and more equitable future than our past. The language of these bills and the spirit in which they are offered make it easy to funnel education to a specific political party rather than teaching above and beyond politics as public educators ought to do. This is the United States, not North Korea.
Cat Hernandez | Mesquite, TX
Our students deserve the truth about the history of this country, so they can help lead our country to a more equitable place. If we continue to lie to them, we will see the same injustices repeated, year after year, day after day.
Chad Finley | Las Vegas, NV
We cannot equip our students to change the world if we first lie to them about the world they are inheriting.
Bruce Mansfield | Bellingham, WA
I am concerned about the efforts to sustain white supremacy through laws that restrict the teaching of US history.
Kellie Pancost | Wakeman, OH
If we want America to be the best it can be, we need to be honest about our history.
Brett Baron-Marianetti | Brooklyn, NY
It took forever for the truth about the development America to become part of mainstream instruction nationwide and we are not going to allow an ever-shrinking group of White and mostly male power holders to turn back the clock now because they fear their guaranteed advantage is eroding.
Frank Edler | Omaha, NE
I believe that education demands the free, open, and responsible inquiry into any and all subjects. The attempt to muzzle inquiry into the history of any minority is reprehensible. Uncovering the truth, no matter how difficult it may be, is the only basis for reconciling a people to move together toward a common future.
Alissa Reicherter | New York , NY
We must be honest in teaching the next generation about our history. Knowing our past can help us reckon with our present and work toward our future.
Alissa Reicherter | New York , NY
We must be honest in teaching the next generation about our history. Knowing our past can help us reckon with our present and work toward our future.
Melanie Grigsby | Liberty, MO
Lance Duff | Jacksonville, FL
We can't let propaganda ruin our country
Douglas Burns | Arlington, VA
We cannot hide from our own history; my students deserve the right to be informed about their nation's past; to form their own opinions free from bias and agenda; to recognize their teachers are unafraid to pursue difficult conversations; to be part of the racial reckoning this country so acutely requires; to raise their own children in a land which seeks to reconcile rather than repudiate.
Stephanie Lee | San Luis Obispo, CA
The children and citizens of the United States of America deserve a full education of this country's history; including it's history of oppression of people of color, and people of minority religions and gender/sexual identities and how that has created our nation today.
Kealy Duke | Baton Rouge, LA
Politicians should not interfere in curriculum decisions, and students should make their own decisions based on truthful instruction. Not prioritizing education has brought us to this moment where ignorance and racism disguised as political authority can dictate what professionals teach.
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.