Petition to School Boards to Teach Reconstruction

Signatures

This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.

Gustavo F. | Jamaica, NY
Robin Wildman | South Kingstown, RI
In order to create a more just society we need to teach the truth about the history of America. Students and educators need to know how Reconstruction shaped the country we live in today.
Victor Ochoa | Oakland, CA
Joan Gussow | Piermont, NY
We desperately need to teach our future voters the reality of our history, including the history of the era following the civil war. ignorance is tearing us apart.
Mary Dakin | Lake Oswego, OR
Barry Witten | Macomb, IL
Althea Washihngton | Milwaukee, WI
In this pivotal moment for the United States, we the undersigned call on education leaders to ensure students have the knowledge to be active participants in a multiracial democracy. To honor our history and the urgency of the present moment, we urge you to adopt resolutions committing to teaching the grassroots history of Reconstruction.It has never been more important for adults and students alike to participate in learning the lessons of the Reconstruction era so that we can apply them to the challenges we face today.Accordingly, we urge you to examine how much time is currently dedicated to teaching the Reconstruction Era in kindergarten through 12th grade, make a plan to increase it, and ensure that teaching materials and curricula in schools reflect the everyday people who powered these movements.
Ellen Bigler | Providence, RI
It was a time of promise that was brought to an end before those promises could be secured permanently.
Sabrina Harper | Hayward, CA
Teaching the history of Reconstruction is crucial if we are going to be able to make progress towards dismantling our systemic racism in our institutions.
Todd Gold | Shreveport, LA
So future generations won’t be ignorant of the Reconstruction Era!
Cassady Cooper | New Orleans, LA
To quite the historian Eric Foner, “More than most historical subjects, how we teach this era truly matters, for it forces us to think about what kind of society we wish America to be.”
Monica Ketchum | Yuma, AZ
Alexander Doan | Yonkers, NY
Students, like all of us, need to understand our country's history to understand where we are today. Reconstruction is particularly important to that understanding.
David Golden | Chicago, IL
Anna Park | Chicago, IL
Billy Rutherford | Pittsburgh, PA
Doris Mutegi | Aurora, CO
It's time the lies and make believes and wishful thinking ends and the truth be told without this excuse thing of saying AHH! THAT'S A SENSITIVE TOPIC! THE HOLOCOST IS NOT SENSITIVE TOPIC BUT TELLING THE STORY OF TENS OF MILLIONS OF AFRICANS WHO DIED IN THEIR OWN MOTHER LAND BEING WHIPPED AND KILLED BECAUSE THE WERE REFUSING TO LEAVE THEIR FAMILIES ANDTHOSE WHO DIED IN THE SEA EITHER BY THROWING THEMSELVES OR BEING THROWN AND THOSE WHO DIED IN UNITED STATES AND ARE STILL DYING HERE TODAY AND ALL OVER THE WORLD ESPECIALY IN MIDDLE EAST AND ASIAN COUNTRIES JUST BECAUSE OF THE COLOUR OF THEIR SKIN. THEY CAN'T CONTINUE BURRYING OUR HISTORY. WE HAVE TO STUDY IT AND LIVE IT FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.
Laura Gomez | Harlingen, TX
Mary Delgado | Milwaukee, WI
It is an important way for students to understand how Blacks came forward in education, business, and politics in the beginning of Reconstruction to the dismay of their white southerners. It showed the resiliency and determination of Blacks to create the America the founding documents pronounced - “all men are created equal”.
Evelyn King | Pittsburgh, PA
Tracey Barrett | Durham, NC
Therese Kelleghan | Chicago, IL
Joanna Tanner | Columbia, MD
Studying this era is critical in understanding why the end of the Civil War did not magically bring about racial harmony in our country.
Barbara Keller | Lopez Island, WA
Michael Weber | Baltimore, MD