Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Christina Goodson | Stillwater, OK
I believe in speaking truth to power.
Susan Warrow | Oakland County, MI
My students want the truth and can handle the truth.
David Afflick | Concord, NH
We need to bring true stories to our students.
Emilie Hansel | Harvey, IL
My students deserve and educator who is brave to teach the truth even when bullied by other teachers for doing so and even losing jobs for teaching it.
Richard Kahn | Woodland Hills, CA
I work with PK-12 teachers directly affected by such legislation and as a public intellectual whose work is informed by and informs the scholarly tradition of critical pedagogy, I am concerned about the affects of such legislation upon our civic society and the prospects for the next generation of American democracy as a result of the recent contagion of such anti-antioppression laws and policies.
Emilie Hansel | Harvey, IL
I am a white teacher in a high needs school. I get a lot of push back and harassment from fellow educators in my building who hold deep set racist views and treat students accordingly. I am also bullied, demoralized and demeaned by my fellow educators for teaching the truth.
Laurie Ferhani | Cambridge, MA
Susan Binder | Richmond, CA
Because I believe in teaching the truth when I was in school we were lied to abut the Black Panthers and War protesters
Lisa Parra Staves | Plymouth, MN
History is identity. People are history and you cannot separate identity from people.
Naomi Zurcher | Luzern, CH
Students, no matter their age, need to be taught in an entirely truthful manner about the heritage and history of Indigenous peoples.
Jeremy Rober | Bowling Green, OH
I will teach ALL of history: the good, the bad, the ugly, the uncomfortable, the hideous, and the revelatory. All of it is important for a young analytical mind to decipher.
Alan McGowan | New York, NY
JAMES HORN | Nashville, TN
My work is focused on preparing educational leaders for careers in K-12 education. I share this with them and all those in my network. There is no more important issue than truthfully teaching all of our histories.
Rob Good | Saint Louis, MO
Valencia Abbott | Reidsville, NC
I care about all my students, and I Tried to Keep Quiet, But My Ancestors Wouldn't Let Me, I speak with them and through them, and as an African American in the South, that voice is loud and strong.
Alan Hall | Raeford, NC
I am signing my name because teaching historical facts is not indoctrination; to not teach the truth is indoctrination.
Barbara Miller | Champaign, IL
It is of the utmost importance to the future of dotmocracy and a democratic society, that we as teachers support and push forward with teaching what has thus far been left out of history and history books, for the sake of not making the majority feel uncomfortable.
Jennifer Brooks | Richardson, TX
History should not omit the truth.
Jason Kirk | Colorado Springs, CO
As an educator I am morally obligated to teach my students the full and hard history of this country and world. Through these learning processes, we are able to grow as a society and as individuals.
Lisa Phan
Carol Conti
I believe that we can not truly understand our present and prepare for our future if we do not acknowledge the events of the past.
Colin Bailey | Glenview, IL
We will not grow without the full understanding of a past. The future is unwritten and to avoid the problems of the past we need to understand and use the knowledge to build on.
Melissa Worley | Richardson, TX
By hiding the truth, by hiding the history…it’s teaching the kids that are not ‘talked about’ in history are not of value, not normal. By teaching the truth, across all areas of history (race, gender, class, etc), meaning, value, and recognition is given to those populations. In turn, the young people struggling with those said issues can begin to find a source of comfort/commonality in that they are not alone…and haven’t been for all of history.
Alison Baran | Pikesville, MD
History has been written, and as an educator it is my duty to teach it. Children should leave their schools ready to be engaged and active citizens of the world.
Sheba Simpson-Amsterdam | New York, NY
Black history is American history. If Black children can experienc racism everyday of their lives, white children can learn about the TRUE history of racism in this country!
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.