Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Joy Collins | Lakeland, FL
Michelle Petersen | Gig Harbor, WA
Rhonda Brock | Stockton, CA
It is important that ALL students learn the truth about history that has help create positive social change.
Sherri Horton | Salt Lake City, UT
We cannot become better if we do not acknowledge our past mistakes.
Sandra Ventura | West New York, NJ
I refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events.
Debbie Chiong
our students deserve to know the truth from the very beginning.
Amber Duncan | Westerville, OH
My children deserve to learn the truth so they can be better citizens, allies, and voters in the future.
Heather Gustafson | Saint Paul, MN
We teach events and policies that shaped history. We're sharing information, not ideology. Let's learn what really happened and who it happened to, our students can handle it.
Erin Lee | Alexandria, VA
Tamara Russell | Groveland, FL
Doug Singsen | Milwaukee, WI
Ragavati Kandiah | Dalton, GA
Salynda Mills | Arlington, TX
Picking and choosing what can/cannot be taught is outrageous. It goes against everything America supposedly stands for and it speaks volumes about the mindset of people behind it.
Kathleen Burns | Columbia, MO
I care about my students.
Emma Buchman | Severna Park, MD
Education is one of the core foundations of my activism. It is one of the most precious things we can give to others- the truth and a full explanation of it. We are never too old or young to learn, but education for children requires our constant attention and vigilance. They deserve our candor, and have much more emotional and intellectual maturity than we give them credit for (I know, I taught at one point too). We must be open with them if we're going to move forward as a progressive and equitable nation. We owe it not just to our children but to the millions of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people that have suffered and died under the American system of racism and imperialism to tell the truth. It is our duty.
Lindsey Smith | Santa Cruz, CA
Conor Demers | Pittsburgh, PA
I only teach my own kids, but I can say this: they'll grow up with no illusions about why, and at whose expense, they have the socioeconomic status they have. My kids have a home, food on the table, and access to privileges many children in the U.S. can only dream of, and it isn't because I, or my parents, or my parents' parents just worked harder than others or got lucky; it's largely due to the systemic funneling of resources to people that look like me - which necessarily entails the systemic funneling of resources away from people that don't look like me. Nobody can move forward - not really forward - without recognizing without illusions exactly where they are and how they got there.
Kristi Sprague | Madison, WI
Students deserve the truth and teachers should not be censored about teaching the truth.
Laura Larson | Winchester, CA
Barbara Barnes | New York, NY
Lori Shininger | Eugene, OR
We need to teach the truth of our history if we want our present and future to be different.
Daniel Russell | Inglewood, CA
our children have the right to learn the unvarnished truth about our nation's history and its connection to current events. By doing so, it makes them better citizens because they are more informed and are less likely to be deluded by false and misleading information.
Johnny Cakes | Sarasota, FL
Nicole Poochia | Putnam Valley, NY
amy shinabarger | Chandler, AZ
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.