Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Steve Bronson | Emeryville, CA
To ban or defy the truth of our nation's history is to repeat it. We need a reckoning withour past to move forward to complete racial and social justice. If I had taught social studies II would have certainly used Zinn's The People's History of the United States as my textbook and guide.I always encouraged my social studies colleagues to do the same.Knowledge is power. Knowledge is transformation.
Adam Blyweiss | Philadelphia, PA
Courtney Watkins | Georgetown Twp, MI
Zachariah Beasley | Seattle, WA
Students deserve to know the truth about our country-their country- whose precarious future is in their hands. They deserve to know that people who look like them have always fought for what is right, believing that a better world is possible.
Sherri Crane | Battle Creek, MI
Anita DeRouen | Jackson, MS
Karen Brink | Kinderhook Town of, NY
Teaching the truth is the only option.
Dennise Gackstetter
"Truth" is not just one point of view, one story. "Truth is multidimensional and multifaceted. All events are made of several layers of stories. Each story reveals the perspective and understandings of that participant. To really understand the impact and implication to an era or event, we must hear ALL the stories and perspectives. In this way we can build empathetic bridges of meaning and understanding. This is the common ground that becomes the foundation for change. Once we can understand what others have experienced, then we can begin to make real change. Everyone deserves to have their stories told.
Athena Ayers | Atlanta, GA
Aletha Fields | Louisville, KY
Kim Moore | Frederick, MD
I am a social studies teacher and understand that teaching the WHOLE truth about our social, economic and political is what makes us true patriots that love their nation with all its glory and faults.
Kristin Ferguson | Mill Valley, CA
I believe that teachers must always teach the truth. As a history teacher I must teach ALL of the history so that my students may truly understand our collective history.
Christine Chmielniak | Seattle, WA
Kristin Wachtelhausen | Harvard, MA
It matters.
Monique McKenney | Philadelphia, PA
Veronica Guevara | Bethlehem, PA
We as a nation need to teach the truth and not continue to curate curriculum that promotes falsehoods about our past. Our democracy is still dynamic and deserves a frequent review and refresh to meet the future we hope it will see.
Becky Martinez | Denver, CO
Elissa Grobman | La Mesa, CA
refuse to lie because it makes people uncomfortable.
Brian Lawler | Kennesaw, GA
I oppose hiding the truth in order to perpetuate white supremacy.
Christian Kadlec | Oak Park, IL
Angela Grabuloff | Derry Twp, PA
ALL history and ALL perspectives are AMERICAN History- we should not silence any of it especially if we ever truly hope to be the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Jane Audette | Milwaukee, WI
Social workers in education must interrogate our personal racial identities and listen and learn about the racial identities of staff, students and families. We must be willing to learn, teach and live in the truth about racial systemic oppression.
Megan Archer | Clackamas, OR
Jessica Boisen | ENGLEWOOD, NJ
Lashira Lemons | Papillion, NE
I commit to teaching true Black History
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.