Sami Wilson, Reporter
History forces us to see the past, to learn from our mistakes. How can we change for the better if we don’t teach and learn about our past errors? Rewriting history is when someone or some group of people, usually the victors, recount certain events and pervert the truth to be in their favor.
Civil War Era: Southern Subversion
The trajectory of America was changed after the Civil War. History changed lives forever, the most prominent and well-known historical event in American history is the deadliest: the Civil War. Slavery was now illegal. At the end of the Civil War, history books were used to reshape the memory of the South and reshape the horrors of slavery as a positive institution for the individuals who were enslaved. White supremacists exploited textbooks for a neo-Confederate legacy. They campaigned for a narrative called the “Lost Cause,” a myth in which there was a psychological response to the trauma of defeat. The Lost Cause was an attempt to preserve the honor of the South by illuminating the South’s loss in the best light possible. The main components of the Lost Cause were the South’s succession from the Union had little to nothing to do with slavery and that enslaved people benefited from slavery. The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) became heavily involved in writing, publishing, and banning history textbooks for school-aged children to influence the Lost Cause. In Southern schools, the textbooks portrayed the South as the victims, glorified the Ku Klux Klan, minimized slavery and promoted the Confederacy as heroic. The UDC persuaded states to purge textbooks that were “offensive” to the South. States like North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi and other Southern states purged these textbooks that showcased the reality of the South.
Civil War Era: Northern Hypocrisy
However, even if we see the South as villains, the North still played a large role in slavery. The first colony to legalize slavery was Massachusetts, and in the 1920s, New York City’s Wall Street was a marketplace for people to “rent” out slaves for days or weeks. New York even came close to joining the succession after South Carolina, although the reasons for joining were for the economic benefit of the cotton industry. A fifth of New York City’s population were slaves in 1740, with New York having the second highest amount of slave ownership in the country. The colonial North thrived on the slave trade. For more than a hundred years after the passing of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the facts of Northern enslavement were systematically left out of textbooks, museums, and historic site interpretations. During the Revolution, George Washington told Northern and Southern colonists that we must fight so they did not become “as tame and as an abject slave as the blacks we rule over with such arbitrary sway.” Slavery was abolished in the North, but not all at once. Some states slowly freed slaves over time, and by 1840, Connecticut still had 17 slaves listed. Lincoln’s decision to fight the Civil War was not to end slavery but to save to the Union.
Colonization of America: Not All Men Are Created Equal
Furthermore, one of the biggest lies we are taught, in school, is about Native Americans and our treatment towards them. We even have a holiday surrounding a lie; Thanksgiving. American schools teach us that Thanksgiving commences the arrival of the Pilgrims and celebrates the harvest with a pot-luck-style dinner with the Natives. We are taught that the Native Americans helped us and we returned favors, with new technology and materials. This isn’t exactly the correct history. According to Plymouth’s governor, William Bradford, his journal explains what really happened. The original harvest celebration of 1621 was not called Thanksgiving and was not repeated. The next official “day of Thanksgiving” was after the Pilgrims massacred 400 Pequot men, children and women. “For the next 100 years, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a governor is in honor of the bloody victory, thanking God that the battle had been won,” Bradford wrote.
“I was not taught about it in school, I heard it after. I learned that the Pilgrims and Indians were having a great time,” junior Matthew Peckham said. Referring to how we are taught in school the Pilgrims and Natives were great neighbors and got along.
In some limited conditions, there were treaties between the Natives and the Pilgrims, to help keep peace. Washington wanted more land, but this was unattainable because Britain had a treaty with the Natives, thus, leading into the War of 1812. As the English population grew in the New World, deadlier White diseases were spread to the Native Americans who had no immunity. It is highly suspected that the Europeans used smallpox-infected blankets as rudimentary biological warfare. Smallpox could be spread through the contamination of objects, like clothing or bedding. It is estimated that around 3 million Natives were killed by Smallpox.
Another thing we are lied to about is Pocahontas and her life. Disney paints us a perfect picture of Pocahontas’ life but strategically omitted the reality of her rape, kidnap, and murder by those who promised to protect her. Pocahontas was only around 8 years old when John Smith arrived. She didn’t even marry John Smith, she married John Rolfe and was forced to have kids with him. After she was kidnapped, she was taken to England where she was raped and abused. Due to the rape she endured, she ended up having another child, Thomas and was forced to convert the Christianity, shedding her own traditions and even her name, donning the white Christian name of Rebecca. It is uncertain what disease Pocahontas died from, it is even rumored to be poisoned by the men in the colony, even her own husband, Rolfe.
Historical Saviors: Selfless or Selfish?
Even President Lincoln, who is known as the savior of the oppressed, approved the mass execution of Native Americans. In 1862, Native tribes in Minnesota waged war on white settlers due to frustration from being starved. After being captured by soldiers, Lincoln ordered 38 men to be hung, with over 4,000 spectators observing their dead bodies. We are even taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America, celebrating him on October 12th to commemorate his reaching the Americas. We learn that he and the Natives helped each other and got along. However, Columbus exploited the Natives for his selfish, monetary desires, shipping them back to England to be used as slaves. He would even cut off their hands if they did not pay a gold tax.
It was Columbus who started the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade with the Natives going from the west to the east, for slave purposes. The Columbian Exchange, a cultural, biological and manufactural exchange between the Americas and Europe is named after Columbus himself. Even though the exchange brought new animals, plants and technology, it also brought violence, death and disease. The Columbian Exchange had a large impact of the growing mortality rate, agriculture production, evolution of warfare and education.
It’s Not Over Yet: Oppression and Suppression
These historical events seem so far in the past, that banning and erasing history still exists today. State Legislatures all have different standards and state laws. When history books are made, state or district reviews read the book to make sure the content of the books is to state laws and regulations. For example, California’s panel members are all educators who were appointed by the former governor, who was a Democrat, while Texas’s panel members are made up of educators, pastors and business representatives appointed by the State Board of Education, dominated by Republicans. These political stances affect what will be taught in school: topics like gun control, abortion rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. Texas textbooks include limited about LGBTQ issues, whereas California’s FAIR Education Act requires schools to teach about the contributions of the LGBTQ community and disabled Americans. Even Alabama, Florida, and South Dakota have passed laws that prohibit teachers in schools from teaching students about issues related to gender or sexuality. There has been an exponential increase in the attempt to ban books. Of the total number of books banned, 41 percent include protagonists or prominent characters who are people of color, 22 percent of titles addressing issues of race and racism, 16 percent are history books or biographies, and 9 percent contain themes related to rights and activism. Even Advanced Placement (AP) Classes are been targeted. The Florida Department of Education informed schools that course materials in Psychology that focus on sexual orientation and gender identity violated Florida state law.
“I think I understand where they are coming from, but I don’t think it is reasonable to ban stuff because they think it is inappropriate, because we should be spreading this,” senior Izzy Queen said.
Since the late 1960s, Texas textbooks have influenced what is taught to American children. Their textbooks were from the perspective of the white, God-fearing, conservative Texans. By 1979, conservative activists pressured the State Board of Education, via newsletters, books, and national press coverage, they wanted the textbooks to present the positive side of America. These textbooks should not contain material that undermines government authority, should not promote violence and should not contain lifestyles that are not generally accepted in society, such as homosexual marriages. Since January 2021, over 130 bills have been proposed by 35 states to further the restriction on what should be taught in school. The topics they want to restrict include sexual orientation, race, sex education and US history that paints us as the villain. Due to the lack of federal law on censoring, it is left to interpretation to school districts and lower courts to determine what materials should be censored.
History is a long, continuous process of events repeating themselves because people don’t learn from their predecessor’s mistakes. Thus, it is necessary to be open about historical events, even if they paint the authority in a bad light. Just like the Library of Alexandria was burned to the ground, lighting powerful knowledge up in flames, figures in the past and present are torching our libraries, our books, our stories, our people. So is history bound to repeat itself again? Are we destined to live a life of dystopia and secretive knowledge?
“A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican activist