History- the story of yesterday
It is often said history is written by the winners. Probably true. There are lots of history courses in the U.S. south where the Civil War is still called the War Between the States, ignoring the fact that the states that left the union did so in defiance of the Constitution.
The Smithsonian Institution recently announced that it was removing the mention of the two impeachments of Donald Trump from its exhibit on the Presidents of the United States. Trump has said he does not want any divisive DEI exhibits that are against the American mainstream. Under pressure a few days later, the Smithsonian changed tactics and said the removal was only temporary and would soon be restored. History is written by the winners
The story of history is not just what is included but what is excluded as well. What do we teach our children about history. Even the topics we select for inclusion in the story reflect what we want our children to know. A photos of the Potsdam Conference to end WWII show only white men. A local Baltimore coed private school that prides itself on teaching values has a conference room with photos of leaders in our democracy. There are NO women or persons of color in those photos, leading one to believe that these individuals contributed nothing to our democracy. That is happening right now, not 70 years ago.
The Maryland State Department of Education recently released its curriculum and guidelines for teaching social studies. Discussion of the Middle East conflicts ends at 1994. Reason for this truncated view of history is that the Commission did not want teachers to be drawn into the conflict and not know what to teach. What is the point of teaching history if not to be drawn into conflicts so that each student decides his or her own point of view of the events of history. The same event can be viewed through two different lenses- one seeing a catastrophe and the other a great victory. Every war ends that way. Every Supreme Court decision has two points of view. Every Big Beautiful Bill can be viewed that way.
If we do not present our students with all the information how do they become informed voters and citizens. The same nation that placed 120,000 Japanese American citizens in internment camps, forcing them to lose both property and freedom is the same nation that sent 133 billion dollars in today’s money with the Marshall Plan to Europe to rebuild a continent devastated by WWII.
For generations our history books have been literally “white washed” when discussing the contributions of minority groups and women. What message does this send to the children who belong to these groups? History is amazing. Even more so when it is told from all its points of view and by all the folks who lived it and made it.