Educators and allies are pledging to teach truth in actions at historic sites across the country on June 8, 2024 and all year long.
Add your voice to challenge legislation and book bans that suppress teaching about racism, sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, and other forms of oppression and resistance throughout U.S. history.
Here are ten ways to participate:
#1: Join an Action
Teachers are organizing events around the country, including walking tours, book swaps, marches, interactive information tables, and more.
Find an Action Near You and Show Up#2: Organize a Local Teach Truth Day of Action
Select a historic site. History is everywhere! Invite friends, family, colleagues.
Read the step-by-step guide with lots of examples of actions.
Sign up to participate and receive a media guide, graphics, and other support.
Read How and Sign Up#3: On Your Own. Pick a Historic Site, Take a Photo, Share to #TeachTruth
No event in your area nor time to plan one? You can still participate on your own or with a small group of friends or family.
Find a historic site. Take a photo with one of our signs or make your own.
Post to social media with #TeachTruth.
Download Signs#4: Amplify #TeachTruth Events on June 8
Actions will take place across the country on June 8.
Boost the influence of those actions by sharing, liking, retweeting, and reposting #TeachTruth content all day long.
Change your profile picture to show up in solidarity!
Download social media profile images Download social media pledge templates #5: Learn More and Get Involved Locally
All of my students’ first language is Spanish and/or Indigenous. They deserve to know our history, especially as it pertains to their rights and their peers’ rights. We cannot mask the truth. — Alethea Maldonado, Middle School ESL Teacher, San Marcos, Texas
Read more about the bills that sparked the Days of Action and find ways to defend education in your community.
Read more #6: Social Media Challenge
Use the power of your social media platform to protect teachers and ensure that our children learn the truth about history so that they can shape a more just future. Participate in the social media challenge.
Learn more #7: Teach Truth for Our Lives and Pride Parades
There may be other events on the weekend of June 8. Join a local event with Teach Truth signs and messages.
Teaching honestly about U.S. history undermines the politics of fear and shines a light on forces that prioritize profits from gun sales over the safety of our communities. Teaching about LGBTQ+ identity affirms all students, their families, and wider community.
#8: Pledge to Teach Truth
Sign the pledge to resist efforts by lawmakers across the country to pass legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history.
Sign the Pledge #9: Engage With Your School Board
We urgently need to turn up for school board races. Each vote truly makes a difference. Across the country, the statewide anti-history education attacks on teachers and students have been joined by a concerted, Koch-funded effort to take over school boards.
Those of us who know the importance of truth-telling in schools do not have the massive funding that the right receives. However, we do have the numbers. We need to put those numbers into action in defense of teachers and in defense of young people learning from history to shape a better future. Turn out to vote, testify, and consider running for school board.
Read more #10: Defend People’s History Teachers
Donate so that we can continue to organize events like these and support the right of teachers across the United States to teach people’s history.
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