D.C. Area Teachers Pledge to Teach the Truth

D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice (DCAESJ) and the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum (AACWM) invited D.C. area teachers and allies to a convening to decry the GOP legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history on Saturday, June 12. The event was endorsed by Empower Ed and the Washington Teachers’ Union. The rally was part of a national day of action to Teach the Truth organized by the Zinn Education Project and Black Lives Matter at School.

Educators came from throughout the D.C. metro area. In addition, an administrator in town from Birmingham, Alabama attended and an educator drove from Charlottesville, Virginia to attend with his middle school aged son. The MC was DCPS elementary school teacher Raphael Bonhomme.

At the event, SNCC veteran and museum founder, Dr. Frank Smith, spoke about the GOP bills and about a curriculum in Georgia and why we need to defend the right to teach the truth.

. . . they teach that when Sherman’s Army came through the south, it burnt down the great city of Atlanta killed off all the culture, ruined the economy, destroyed this whole thing. . . . Well, that’s one way to teach it. Here’s another way. When Sherman’s Army entered Georgia, there was an 18-year-old enslaved woman who was Michelle Obama’s great, great, great aunt. She had two children by her owner. When she heard Sherman’s Army was coming she looked over that hill and must’ve started singing “My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”. . . Listen in full above and read transcript.

SNCC veteran and Eyes on the Prize series associate producer Judy Richardson spoke about the misrepresentation of Reconstruction in her high school textbook. Teachers read their pledges to teach the truth.

Read more and listen to speeches and testimonials. See more photos and videos.

In a short video interview, Dr. Frank Smith shared reflections on how the GOP bills are reminiscent of when school districts used to screen materials to make sure there were no images of integration nor anything positive about African Americans. Below is the transcript for that conversation.

Dr. Frank Smith. Source: African American Civil War Museum

Before textbooks were used in the public school system and libraries, somebody reviewed them. They screened out all the books that had Black and white kids in them. They screened out any books that said anything they didn’t agree with. So people got a very limited edition at school.

There was no CNN. All the local stations were controlled by the local channels and the newspapers and stuff, so people got a very, very limited education. They were mostly anti-Black, pro-white — the Civil War was about white people trying to defend themselves against the North invading the South, taking over their rights, and it had nothing to do with slavery. It was just a crazy way to teach. For us, it was a real awakening trying to get in there and do some things.

We eventually did. We set up those Freedom Schools in the summer, where we were taught them how to read and write. We were teaching them how to read and write for a purpose, too — so they could register to vote.

So this idea of trying to restrict what people can teach and what they can learn is a way of trying to promote a biased sense of education, a biased sense of history. And so I think it’s important for us to get involved in this because our young people need to know that history is important. And they also need to know that history is about the liberation and freedom of people. And we all struggle for our freedom and we all like to be free in the United States as citizens. And we ought to have a right to an education that promotes that.

But what these people are talking about doing is just screening out everything that has anything to do with racism, and teaching about slavery and teaching about discrimination, and teaching about all the hardships African Americans had to face in this country, which is really, I think, a ridiculous way to look at American history. And the proper way to look at it as African Americans have done very well here in this country. We even had one get elected president. And he ran the most complicated, largest, most complicated government in the world with the largest military and did so with great success and with great dignity and great aplomb, no scandals, and no court cases and no grand jury investigations and indictments in this case. So it's something to be really celebrated instead of people trying to denigrate it now.

So let's get this done. Let's get America on the path that it ought to be on, that's a place that's the land of the free and home of the brave. Thank you.

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