Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Beth Hanak | Silver Spring, MD
This is important!
Lauren Burignat-Kozol
Jacob McIntyre | Lafayette, IN
great teaching involves students using multiple perspectives to become great citizens.
Shareen Silva PR
I firmly believe denial of the truth is the mitigating factor preventing true healing and unity in this country. The truth, according to the Bible, sets you free. Accepting the long term damage to the morale of our country by the stain of slavery and racial injustice validates the pain of BIPOC and can create a different perspective in the eyes white folx.
Jackie Carmona | Elmwood Park, IL
I refuse to disrespect my ancestors or those of my students by lying to them about U.S. history and current events!
Sarah Patrick | Dorchester Center, MA
May Paw | Milwaukee, WI
Joy Randall | Redmond, WA
I am committed as a parent and equity team member to push our school district to truly act on racial equity and justice.
Erika Cuffy | Washington, DC
it is imperative that our students know and learn the truth so that past meanness will never happen again and so that the healing can finally begin. They deserve to live in a country where ALL LIVES MATTER, where it is seen, believed and a part of our daily lives just like breathing.
David Wizer | Baltimore, MD
Teach history and truth to enhance equality and students’ understanding.
Ricardo Guthrie | Flagstaff, AZ
I am an educator of Ethnic Studies in a state that has tried repeatedly to undermine teaching of racial justice, culturally responsive subject matter, and education for action on behalf of Black, Indigenous, Asian American, and ChicanX/LatinX peoples. I believe we are winning the battle for the hearts and souls of youth, parents and elders, but that the white-entrenched state legislator and right-wing governors in Arizona have continually worked to disempower the majority of equity-minded people. We are the majority, and I am signing my name because I am convinced that history is on our side--we stand on truth and reconciliation for all. AZ bills stifling voting rights, teaching of anti-racist subject matter, and for migrant rights, will be deemed unconstitutional but we must act now, to turn the tide. I am signing my name because I have two daughters who are in the school system and they have a right to learn the truth! Word? Today I pledge to uphold the Truth!
Sturgeon Moritz | Middleton, WI
Penny Shultz | Chicago, IL
truth matters and learning history is the best way to prevent repeating mistakes.
Jeremy Bloyd | Lafayette, IN
…it is time we truly have “liberty and justice for all.” Our students need to know the truths of our history as a nation. When we know better, we can do better!
Jeanette Beigel | Annapolis, MD
I pledge to teach the entire truth of our nation's history to my students.
Jacob Kelley | New Bedford, MA
Generations should not have to continue to fight for equity.
Kathryn Haynes | Richmond, VA
Christine Wallace | Midland Park, NJ
Students need to understand all of our history, not just a censored collection of facts. The messy parts of our history are important to wrestle with in order to move toward a more egalitarian society. Diverse stories must be included for students to understand the nuance in the collective experience. We are a product of our history - all of it.
Beau Golwitzer | Chicago, IL
Brett Klopp | Port Washington, NY
I am signing because we have to teach the truth, not just we want to remember, about American history. I can't believe we have come to this point as a country.
Shobana Ram | New York, NY
Our students and young people deserve to know and understand the true history of our country and learn how to be agents of equality, justice and progress in their respective communities. As trained, experienced educators, we must stand in solidarity to ensure that teaching truth in our classrooms is the norm, not the exception.
Claire Incorvati | Rock Hill, SC
I believe in teaching truthfully and factually to all students, regardless of how difficult that truth might be.
Anna Weisberg | Baltimore, MD
We can only achieve a joy-filled, harmonious society when we acknowledge our past and current failings. Diverse perspectives must be shared and considered through the lens of documented cause and effect. Through honest, fact-based education, we can grow as communities and a nation. To be better, we must do better.
Madeleine Straubel | Roanoke, VA
Christine Phillips | Gwynn Oak, MD
my students deserve to see themselves in the curriculum and know the truth about US 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.