Question the President

The powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned. — Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff

We need to remind students that this country has been at its best when people have organized to question and challenge presidents — opposing presidential support for slavery, war, invasion, environmental destruction, segregation, mass deportations, and injustice of all kinds. Our students need stories of this resistance to inform and inspire their own activism.

As we approach Presidents’ Day, students are witnessing the three branches of government being collapsed into one. It’s time to help students think critically about the presidency — and to question and challenge the president.

We offer lessons on past presidents and on issues relevant to this administration, including immigration, voting rights, education, McCarthyism, Palestine, climate, and more.

Teaching about Reconstruction and the Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th) sheds light on current events. For example, the administration is going after birthright citizenship, as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Students can learn that the 14th Amendment turned the Constitution into a document cited in legal arguments for equality. It is no wonder that the Trump administration is laser-focused on weakening it.

With your support, we can bring these lessons to classrooms everywhere.

	Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States Three Lessons by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca Who votes for president? Who votes at all? This three-lesson unit teaches students the essential historical context for the contemporary struggle against voter suppression and for voting rights in the United States.
	Teaching the Vietnam War: Beyond the Headlines Lessons by Bill Bigelow, Sylvia McGauley, Tom McKenna, Hyung Nam, and Julie Treick O’Neill In the words of Daniel Ellsberg, the Vietnam War era was “Twenty years of crime under four Presidents.” In a collection of eight lessons about that time, students learn about the roles of presidents, generals, journalists, whistleblowers, and grassroots activists.
	Andrew Jackson and the “Children of the Forest” Lesson by Bill Bigelow This lesson puts students in a position to develop critical literacy skills by responding to Andrew Jackson’s speech on “Indian Removal.”
	Missing from Presidents Day: The People They Enslaved Article by Clarence Lusane U.S. schools are adorned with posters of presidents and the years they served in office. Textbooks describe the accomplishments and challenges of the major presidential administrations. Children’s books put students on a first-name basis with the presidents. Nowhere in all this information is there any mention of the fact that more than one in four U.S. presidents were involved in human trafficking and slavery.
	Rethinkin’ Lincoln Article by Bill Bigelow Students need to rethink the Great Emancipator myth by examining Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address, the Emancipation Proclamation, his timid approach to ending slavery, and, by contrast, the heroism of the enslaved people themselves, and the abolitionists who sought their freedom.
	Andrew Jackson Revisited Reading by Howard Zinn What does it tell us about the Trump administration that Andrew Jackson’s portrait hangs prominently in the Oval Office? As Howard Zinn explained, “Jackson was a land speculator, merchant, slave trader, and the most aggressive enemy of the Indians in early American history.”

PBS NewsHour “Why we shouldn’t forget that U.S. presidents owned slaves” Poem by Clint Smith III | Feb. 02, 2017

“When you sing that this country was founded on freedom, don’t forget the duet of shackles dragging against the ground my entire life.” This is how poet Clint Smith III begins his letter to past presidents who enslaved people. In honor of Black History Month, Smith offers his Brief But Spectacular take on the history of racial inequality in the United States.

The Land That Never Has Been Yet

[Andrew Jackson] claims to be for the little people, for the ordinary man, let’s say, but really represents a kind of an aggrieved whiteness that is demanding the protection of white men’s ability to use violence to get what they want. This particular political archetype, you know, really resonates repeatedly throughout U.S. history.

This excerpt from Episode 3 of the podcast, The Land That Never Has Been Yet, is just one of many that challenge the traditional narrative about U.S. presidents and their legacy today. We highly recommend this series that calls into question whether democracy is really part of the DNA of the United States. Continue reading.