Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Donna Cywinski | Fredericksburg, VA
I have a moral and professional duty to teach accurate and robust US History. Accurate and robust US History requires the study of racial enslavement of Black people by white people. Enslavement and the failure of reconstruction created structures that are essentially interwoven in US History and maintain the system of white supremacy upon which the nation was founded. The current Governor of Virginia ran on the premise that focusing on the history of Black Americans in the US is dangerous to students. This is because he fears the truth about US history. I will not give up my right, under the First Amendment to the HS Constitution to teach the truth about US History. I owe it to my students and to my country.
Ashley Houck | New York, NY
I believe in teaching the truth, empowering students to know the spectrum of our nation’s history and how we can learn to make changes in order to reckon and overcome the harrowing past.
Nicole Moodie | Cutchogue, NY
I am committed to teach the truth to all students.
De La Vaca | Aurora District, CO
I'm an indigenous educator, one of very few men of color teaching in classrooms in Colorado. I'm signing because the truth matters, because education so often lies or covers for the powerful and for nationalism or for status quo. I'm signing because I always teach the truth, regularly interrupting lessons and news to provide context students deserve.
Kate Mendillo | Providence, RI
I refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events. People might experience real or perceived discomfort when confronting our checkered past, but this is the price we pay for causing the real suffering of many people.
Mark Higbee , MI
There is too much pressure to "teach the lies" of the American past, both at K-12 levels and at college-level classes, and in states with both Republican and Democratic governments alike. At the college level, tragically the pressure NOT to "teach the truth" comes from colleagues and administrators who oppose any confrontation with white supremacy, for fear of "controversy". These gutless academics block or delay their braver but less powerful colleagues who know that teaching the truth is our duty. Dishonesty in the classroom is bad at any level! White supremacy must be understood, and therefore it must be studied. Teach the Truth!
Rebeldita the Fearless Dr. Siu
Professor Meya Hargett, MA. | BAKERSFIELD, CA
Because of the slave schedules that bear my family’s last names, with some wills stating the value of other family members at $0 after a wicker chair valued at $2. Finding out that birthday parties are held on former plantations where some of my ancestors resided. The actual text of General Fredrick Hargett, who bore children with a slave I am a descendent. of establishing North Carolina and it's University, stating, “How free they are and how they will rule.” The award-winning and now historical landmark of Black Hargett Street in Wake County, North Carolina, that still houses doctors, lawyers, and business entrepreneurs from the Black community started by my family on the black Hargett when the could practice on the other side of the tracks. And for every generation of marginalized broken BIPOC broken bodies under railroads, highways, buildings, parks, statues, and Ivory League institution that my current Scholars may someday wish to attend. A defense and in honor for LBGTQ+, BIPOC, Dreamers, future immigrants, and generation yet to be named never to be marginalized and demoralized with false educational standards again.
Edie Ventrella | Seattle, WA
I am an aspiring teacher who wants to stand for systemic change. As Jamie Cho— a professor of mine— commented, “ By teaching the truth about history and talking about inequities early on with young children, we can dream, imagine and build the just systems we so desperately need.”
Stephanie Griffin | North Providence, RI
I love my country and I want an inclusive society.
Jamie Cho
We can't change systems unless we understand why they are the way they are. By teaching the truth about history and talking about inequities early on with young children, we can dream, imagine and build the just systems we so desperately need.
DIONELIA GUTIERREZ | Albuquerque, NM
Teaching truth in history is essential for understanding our past and present accurately. It provides a foundation for empathy, accountability, and progress. Including diverse voices is crucial as it sheds light on overlooked perspectives, challenges dominant narratives, and enriches our understanding. By embracing diversity in historical education, we honor the complexity of human experiences and equip ourselves to build a more just and equitable future.
Heather Mazen Korbmacher | Bellingham, WA
I stand with educators around the world committed to teaching the truth about our history and current events.
Benjamin Carnehl | Lake Zurich, IL
Education is the search for truth about the world, our society, and ourselves.
Sarah Byrne | Thomasville, GA
Truthful history is liberating.
Robert Smith | Winston-Salem, NC
Let's all speak truth to power and make our classrooms as safe place for all our students!
Maria Peterson
Philimena Owona | Upper Marlboro, MD
teaching and learning about true history empower people to change what was wrong, by now choosing to do what is moral, ethical, and humane; and unite under that humanity.
Charmaine Banks | Upper Marlboro, MD
I am a black educator and all students deserve to another about each others cultures. We should not be written out of history. OUR LIVES MATTER...BLACK LIVES MATTER
Timothy Wilson | Clinton, MD
I want to see our country turn away from its racist past and embrace an equitable, diverse, moral future.
Adrian Turner | Upper Marlboro, MD
There is no progress without the truth.
Sharn Boone-Ruffin | Capitol Heights, MD
It's better to teach the truth, than live with the lies.
DANE FECH | Jersey City, NJ
People should not be afraid of their governments... governments should be afraid of their people.
Paulyna Rivera , GA
When we know better, we do better.
PD Lawson | Clemson, SC
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.