Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Spector Yvonne | Hollywood, FL
Teaching the truth about our country's history is essential. We cannot rewrite the past, nor attempt to see it through rose colored lenses. Our history is embedded in who we our as a country. It flows in the veins of every citizen, including children. In order to do better, we must be better. This can only happen when we accept who we were, what we did, and seek answers to how we can grow from here.
Alexis Scangas | Rutland, VT
Tiffanie Pope | Weaverville, NC
Our children deserve to know the truth about our history. Knowing the truth not only helps them know about who they are, why and how we got where we are today, but also helps build their moral compass to make strong decisions today and in the future.
Lilah Phillips | Franklin Park, IL
I want all my students to have a chance to learn all the good, the bad, and the ugly about the nation they live in. If we do not address our nation's mistakes and do our best to learn from them, then we're bound to make the same mistakes
Antoinette Delmonico | Somerville, MA
Education, conversation and learning is what makes our society capable of changing and caring for all it's memebrs.
Stephanie Hedgespeth | Normal, IL
I believe in the power of education and believe in the importance of educating students to learn about the world around them and to be able to become activists and change the world around them.
Kathy McLinn | Anchorage, AK
"To teach the Truth" couldn't be a more pressing call to action within education and within our very society right now. Not only speaking the truth but teaching kids how to ask the right questions and to uncover their own truths- it's the only salvation for our democracy. Educators carry a huge responsibility to pass on "truth telling and truth seeking" as the path to personal and social liberation.
Bruce Tamarin | Townshend, VT
we must speak honestly about oppression in order to combat it. Whether or not racism and sexism and other forms of oppression are deeply embedded in the American legal system is not a matter of opinion or even open to debate. For too long Americans have been too afraid, or too racist, to have the conversation. The time is now!
Charles Danoff | Chicago, IL
We need to be able to teach the horrible things our country has done in the past if we want any hope of somewhat understanding it in the present or improving it in the future.
Elizabeth England | Wolfeboro, NH
Beatrice Cody | Easthampton, MA
This is a human rights issue—teachers need to be able to talk about the realities of racism, sexism, homophobia and similar forms of discrimination so we can make things right in our society. Let’s move forward as a country, not backward!
Nas Afi | Upper Marlboro, MD
I am an an Educator and Organizational Specialist with NEA! I believe in this work and am committed to working for this cause! It is important to me in my personal life and my work life!
Edward Holland | El Paso, TX
Mary Difino | Chicago, IL
Katherine Birtalan | Youngstown, OH
You cannot run from the truth.
Cheryl Capoldi-Huston | El Paso, TX
A colleague is being singled out by aggressive parents, and I stand by truth and empowered learning.
CR B
I was born, raised, and educated in Tulsa yet did not become aware of the race massacre until adulthood because it was not taught in our schools. Children deserve the truth.
logan hill | New Braunfels, TX
I'm so tired of young Americans being lied to or having difficult facts being omitted from their learning.
Michael White | Saint Paul, MN
Our students must learn facts about our history. As a gay parent of an adopted child of color, husband, and Elementary Dean, I'm committed to supporting curriculum that reflects all of my students and their families, including mine. A ban on teaching facts is never OK.
Stu Abram | Chicago, IL
We must value justice over comfort and model for our students how to interrupt systems of privilege and oppression rather than being complicit in their replication.
Colleen Campbell | Colorado Springs, CO
as I enter the workforce, I am committed to Critical Race Theory and the work of anti-racism
Samantha Lortz | Columbus, OH
We can only make the world a better place if we know where we have come from.
Leamsie Muniz | New Britain, CT
I believe that we deserve to learn of all the good and bad in our world, and the ways that we can create a better community for ALL races and cultures. We commonly learn the white washed side of history, always missing pieces to the puzzle. As a diverse world, we should teach every child of their ancestors and the history that can create a better perspective of our peers. Let's set the footprints to follow and the words to inspire everyone. Join me in my activist group- Changing History Today For A Brighter Tomorrow: and let's make the changes now!
Allyson Klak | Coe Twp, MI
We have to tell our students the truth if we want them to help our nation avoid the mistakes of our past in the future. Studying history means that sometimes we'll feel uncomfortable, because sometimes it's not pretty or admirable. The point is not to feel shame or humiliation; the point is to recognize our responsibility to do better.
Danielle Polemeni | Columbus, OH
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.