Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Connie Compton | Kent, WA
Truth matters. Facts matter.
Callie Laz Davis | Wheeler, WI
If we don’t teach the truth, then we cannot learn from our past to create a better future.
Stacey Cohen | Washington, DC
Teaching the truth about history should not be a luxury, and we will never be a racially healthy society without dealing with history honestly. I pledge to always teach my students the truth; they deserve nothing less.
Daryl Jackson | Pelham , NY
The truth must be told, we can no longer hid what built this country. Especially if we want to improve this country. Regardless of what the racist on the right think. The narrative that it will guilt white kids is just another BS talking.
Morgan Carcamo | Odenton, MD
Megan Gibbs | Fullerton, CA
Students deserve to know some uncomfortable truths.
Kristen Cater | Seattle , WA
Kayla Mains | Chula Vista, CA
Students deserve to know the whole truth. They crave it, and they engage with the curriculum when they hear it.
Stephanie Willis | Houston, TX
It is important for students to understand the history of the United States good or bad. Glossing over and ignoring history and the effects that it has had on multiple generations is irresponsible. One can’t change what is not acknowledged.
LarryVFP skwarczynski | Hamtramck, MI
Because LEARNING IS KNOWLEDGE.
Sarah Csiga | Wilsonville, OR
I wamted to know the truth as a student, why should we not teach the students the truth? It can still be the truth and be age appropriate. Teach the truth, not some cover-up.
Elizabeth Ceccoli | Johns Island , SC
Stacy Uyeda | Albany, CA
My middle school students deserve respect and deserve the truth. We cannot move forward and make our country a more equitable place without learning a more inclusive narrative of U.S. history. Taught carefully and thoughtfully, students do not leave the classroom feeling guilty or traumatized about U.S. history; instead, they feel empowered to do better than our ancestors and to be more compassionate about people who are suffering today.
Kathy Kimball-Wurster | Washingtonville, NY
I believe in teaching all history…
Tara Willging | Fredericksburg, VA
Catherine Perez | Houston, TX
We are obligated to teach facts. It’s a fact that our nation was founded on the backs of enslaved people and at the expense of indigenous people. I don’t really know what else to say, it’s pretty simple.
Kisha Delgado | Mesa, AZ
Children deserve a stinger, truthful, education.
Katie Ruhland | Duluth, MN
Our current students are our future leaders and they need the information and thinking skills to create positive change.
Jeanette Antaki | Livermore, CA
We need to be honest with our students. I refuse to white-wash history!
Jennifer Jones | Philadelphia, PA
It’s hard to watch people perform extreme mental gymnastics to qualify their inability to take responsibility for the way history has *actually* happened. The more people continue to deny history, and the fewer people there are who stand up and take them to task, it’s the same thing playing out over and over for our tired, unfortunate, destructive US education status quo. Discomfort should be the norm, and instead it’s avoided at all costs. It hurts everyone more in the end. Everyone.
Jaclyn DuBois | Bradenton, FL
Our children deserve to know the truth so that we can honor past generations and make our country a safer space for current and future generations.
Olivia Santillan , CA
Teaching the truth about the motivations, causes, and impact that created our current context is one step towards liberation and justice for all. I want our children to experience a humanizing educational system where they are seen, valued, and heard.
Caitlin Ross | Denver, CO
Students deserve to understand the origins of our nation’s current dilemmas - and that means teaching some ugly truths in order to prepare our students to help solve them.
Charlotte Woosley | Murrieta, CA
Sharing the stories of the unheard is vital to a complete understanding of history and in order to teach my students critical thinking they need all the facts
Leah Ballantyne
This is the most important part of education. This is right. This is what we all need to do.
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.