In the News

Opponents of “critical race theory” will hear the voices of educators, parents, students, and community organizers who refuse to lie about the true history of the United States. This is the kind of grassroots action that is inspiring hundreds of people in the teach truth movement who are currently making plans to gather at historic sites in their communities from June 11-12 — sites, like the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C., and Stone Mountain Park in Georgia that reveal something about the struggle against structural racism and oppression, and symbolize the history that teachers would be required to lie about or omit if these bills become law.

Most American students graduate high school without ever learning a complete and unvarnished account of their nation’s history. Systemic racism within the educational system, the historical erasure of Black and Brown narratives, and the manipulation of curriculum standards and textbook content have long undermined even the best efforts to teach the full truth about the history and the persistent legacy of genocide and enslavement in the United States. Recent Conservative efforts to redefine and weaponize the educational approach to history dubbed “critical race theory” has made this job even harder.

Shortly after Alabama’s state board of education passed a resolution last August to ban public schools from teaching or purchasing materials that “impute fault, blame,” or cause students “to feel guilt or anguish” about the legacy of slavery or ongoing racial injustice, members of the Birmingham, Alabama, school board pushed back by passing a resolution of their own.

State Republican Rep. Jim Walsh recently introduced HB 1807 and Republican Rep. Brad Klippert introduced HB 1886 for this legislative session — two bills designed to mandate educators lie to Washington’s students about structural racism and sexism. This copycat legislation is lifted from a growing number of bills around the country that seek to ban an honest account of history in K-12 education, including many of the long struggles against oppression. These bills especially target the teaching of critical race theory (CRT), the 1619 Project, the Zinn Education Project and Black Lives Matter at School.  (PDF)

Scholars say studying the aftermath of the Civil War can help put in context many of the most seminal events in the U.S. in recent years, from the brutal murder of George Floyd by police in 2020 to the voter suppression laws enacted after Black voters played a big role in helping Joe Biden and Kamala Harris be elected President and Vice President in 2020. But despite the timeliness of the era in today’s climate, many students in American schools will not get a full education on Reconstruction until they get to college. In a report produced by the education nonprofit Zinn Education Project, the study’s authors say they are concerned that American children will grow up to be uninformed about a critical period of history that helps explain why full racial equality remains unfulfilled today.

Across the U.S., lawmakers in at least 28 states are attempting to pass so-called anti-critical race theory legislation that would prohibit teachers from teaching students about the role of racism, sexism and oppression throughout U.S. history.

Julie, a Black high-schooler in Fort Worth who prefers not to use her real name, is already having a difficult time in her social studies class. On June 15, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 3979, which will significantly change the social studies curriculum and civics instruction in public schools across the state. The bill says, among other things, that educators cannot teach students that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”