New Texas history books will downplay slavery, omit KKK and Jim Crow

a reply to: olaru12

That's funny, when I went to school in Mississippi, you'd think that they were still FIGHTING the Civil War. That's where I got REAL familiar with the State's Rights argument.

a reply to: Spider879

who is the book publisher? I don't see it anywhere.

originally posted by: abe froman
a reply to: Spider879

A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union
In the momentous step, which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery - the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product, which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.

I call BS and shenanigans.

The Civil War was based on not only slavery, but specifically BLACK slavery.

Time to man up America.

Pay the reparations.

Certainly, as soon as you can find a former slave, let's pay him or her.

originally posted by: abe froman
Originally posted by dragon rider."This is all covered under black history month".

My response:

originally posted by: dragonridr

originally posted by: abe froman

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: Spider879

This is all covered under black history month.

This is all covered under black history month. And the discussion of MLK. Schools don't ignore it its covered morr every year in elementary school.

Maybe us White Folk should stop for a second and count our blessings that we don't NEED a white history month.

So you are upset that the civil rights movement is not covered in a section that deals with the 1860's but it is covered quite thoroughly in the section where it is relevant such as the 1960's?

originally posted by: Spider879

Social studies books for Texas public schools will minimize the importance of slavery in the Civil War and omit any mention of both Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan, the Washington Post reported.

Lessons covering the Civil War will list the reasons behind the conflict as being, “sectionalism, states’ rights and slavery,” in that order.

As Business Insider noted, the new textbooks come five years after the state board of education revised the curriculum. Republican board member Pat Hardy stated at the time that he considered slavery “a side issue” in the war.

The books are set to be issued to the state’s 5 million public school students not long after the renewed debate regarding the Confederate flag, spurred by Dylann Roof’s terrorist attack inside a South Carolina church last month that killed nine people, including state Sen. Clementa Pinckney.



Currently, students in Texas schools are required to read Jefferson Davis’ inauguration speech when he became president of the Confederate States of America. But according to the Post, they are not required to read a speech by Davis’ vice president, Alexander Stephens’ “Cornerstone speech” of 1861, so named because he called slavery the “cornerstone” of the Confederate government, while stating, “the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man.”
www.rawstory.com...

History by omission is a lie, it is of no use to anyone the Texas system is a fail and individuals involved should be made to do this walk...in a scene from Game Of Thrones..Shame!. ting ding! Shame!.. ting ding! Shame!

I wonder what else they'll leave out. Will they leave out the preliminary emancipation proclamation which told states they could keep their slaves if they called off the rebellion?

I wonder if they'll discuss slaves owned by northern generals such as Ulysses Grant (who owned one personally) and his wife (who owned the rest).

I wonder if they'll leave out how horribly racist the north was. As the ever-so-entertaining cracked.com points out:
True, the North had a larger number of abolitionists and progressives, but they also had blatantly racist laws preventing free black people from actually getting rights as citizens. And also, lynch mobs. Which was why it was the North, not the South, that hosted the country's most violent race riot in history. What started out as a protest against the Union's draft policy, ended as a full-on assault on any African-Americans unfortunate enough to exist and get caught.

Basically, I'm wondering if we're really mad because Texas is revising history in a different way than the revised history we're already used to. I'm not defending revisionist history either way.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Spider879

Dammit Texas! Doing it AGAIN to textbooks. At least it is only contained to Texas schoolbooks and not the entire country this time...

Unfortunately for the rest of the nation (since our schools really do kind of suck), what happens to Texas education makes its way out to everyone else. I haven't a clue why....but thats the way it works.

I asked earlier if anyone caught the book publisher. Was is McMillan?

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Spider879

Dammit Texas! Doing it AGAIN to textbooks. At least it is only contained to Texas schoolbooks and not the entire country this time...

Unfortunately for the rest of the nation (since our schools really do kind of suck), what happens to Texas education makes its way out to everyone else. I haven't a clue why....but thats the way it works.

I asked earlier if anyone caught the book publisher. Was is McMillan?

Yes, I know about this travesty intimately... That's why I wrote that initial response. I really hope it doesn't leak out of Texas, but we both know that isn't likely... I f### HATE history revisionism.

Let me do some research on this real quick and I'll get back to you if I can find who the publisher is.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

ok....i have a conspiracy around this if it turns out to be McGraw Hill:

en.wikipedia.org...

I am familiar with Apollo. They are the devil incarnate.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Ok so I did some reading on the source article's source. A Washington Post Article: Texas officials: Schools should teach that slavery was ‘side issue’ to Civil War From what I am gathering, this isn't a publisher specific thing and the publishers are saying they can cater their books to the content of the state:

David M. Kennedy , a Stanford professor emeritus and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who co-authored “American Pageant,” said Loewen is nitpicking.

“I would defy anybody who read our text to conclude that we were unaware of slavery as the cause of the Civil War,” Kennedy said. He added that he and his co-author have bade farewell in the past to states that found the textbook’s content objectionable. Alabama has rejected the book for years because of what state officials consider derogatory portrayals of 19th century religious revivals, among other reasons.

“We’re not in the business of compromising our view of history so some state school board will be happy,” Kennedy said.

The article also suggests that this will remain within Texas:

Critics of Texas’s new history standards fear that their teaching about the Civil War will spread to other states via textbooks that cater to the Lone Star state; Texas is the second-largest market in the country.

But that narrative appears to be changing as digital books help publishers become more nimble, said Jay Diskey of the Association of American Publishers.

A spokesman for the publisher McGraw-Hill Education, asked whether the company changes Civil War-related passages in books used outside Texas, said the company provides “content that is tailored to the educational standards of states.”

That's the best I got so far, if you find anything different let me know.

I Thought Texans were proud folks and proud of most of their history. Rewriting history ONLY suggest one has something "bad" to hide and this also sound like something that could be expected in countries like Russia, North Korea and China etc......

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Yea I'm not a fan of them either and I'm pretty sure those statements from the publishers in the article I posted above this post are all lies or half-truths.

originally posted by: Kromlech
They want a G-rated version of history by sweeping the bad parts under the rug. Hilarious.

As I completely agree with your statement. I think it's more than just a G-rated version. They want a version of history that doesn't offend anyone, because that is what our society has become. A society of punishable offenses if someone offends someone. That is what's hilarious!! I'm offended every time I drive thru McDonald's and my coffee lid isn't perfectly sealing the top of my cup, but do I yell and scream and try to burn the place down...NO! It is what it is and I move on.

..And Santa Clause and Jesus were white and the native Americans and slaves were happy and George Washington never told a lie and the Civil war was fought over states rights…on and on and on...around the merry go round of self deception, ignorance and narcissism in the 21st century.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Figured....McGraw-Hill.

At some point if life slows down ill have to do a piece on Apollo. I got to witness their last venture.

ETA: a nice piece about them and another one of their debacles:

www.forbes.com...

originally posted by: TruthxIsxInxThexMist
a reply to: Spider879

I wrote in a post not that long ago really that if parts of history were omitted from books and now the Internet, maybe things wouldnt continue as they are now... things wouldn't go round and round in circles! people could move on without thinking about past issues! yes, these things happened but until we as a people get past that, there will always be 'revenge' in peoples minds. It will hold people down and they will never forget.

For example, you did mention kkk stuff would be omitted but also if written text about 'Crusades' and such were omitted then maybe the Islamic crusades wouldn't be happening now. There is so much in History which would have been best forgot about... 'Hiroshima' is another... they will never forget that.. WWII remembrance day will be continuing for how any more years?? Forever it seems..

People can't move on fully until events are forgotten.

I respectfully disagree, people can't move on until events are properly dealt with , why else do you think inanimate objects like the Confederate flag is such a lightening rod issue, omit a text all you want but folk memories will take it's place and the danger in that is folks are then free to add stuff that didn't happen.
But to a more political point, this move by the school boards of not only Texas but other states is part of a greater campaign to miseducate our youths to omit slavery , Jim Crow , labor rights and evolution these are the same folks who yelled the loudest about big government which in fact is merely projection on their part.

originally posted by: abe froman
In my opinion more words won't help anything.

The black community isn't hampered by lack of words, the black community is hampered by poverty.

Hundreds of years of inequality is tearing America apart.

Save America ,Pay Reparations.

Keep history in the history books.

The money would be blown on silly things instead of being used to improve their situation in most cases. Its not a matter of just poverty. its a combination of culture and parenting combined with the government using them to just stay in office.

originally posted by: yuppa

originally posted by: abe froman
In my opinion more words won't help anything.

The black community isn't hampered by lack of words, the black community is hampered by poverty.

Hundreds of years of inequality is tearing America apart.

Save America ,Pay Reparations.

Keep history in the history books.

The money would be blown on silly things instead of being used to improve their situation in most cases. Its not a matter of just poverty. its a combination of culture and parenting combined with the government using them to just stay in office.

Well you hit on one good point the others well not so much. Blacks have no political power at all. And the reason is simple Democrats know they will get their vote no matter what. And Republicans don't even try knowing they can't. So no one bothers to deal with issues important to them such as inner city poverty. Or policies that cause families to be torn apart. For example when public housing will remove you if your married.

The solution is simple when you look at the problem. You can't put all the poor people in an area with no jobs and expect them to not turn to crime. What the government needs to do is create vouchers for use on rent anywhere. And then need to bull doze over the public housing it was a failed social experiment created to control.

a reply to: Spider879

Here is a question I have for you.. Are you comfortable with a teacher in a public school telling your kids about racism? What if the teacher said things like many black slaves had it better then in a Africa and explains why. Or a teacher says well all whites are racists and refuses to talk about the underground railroad and how whites risked their lives.

A school should keep this subject general when dealing with young children. The topic is complex and sordid. Once they get into high school entirely different then they can evaluate information and make conclusions. I know with my son I went beyond what the school taught. Because he asked but I don't think I would have been comfortable having a teacher explain it to him since he is part of an interracial family. And as such he doesn't need to feel guilt or remorse for actions he couldn't control.

a reply to: dragonridr

What? Why? Stop underestimating the intelligence of kids. I hate when people argue about keeping things from kids because "they can't handle it." That is such nonsense. Kids are smarter than many adults give them credit for. I know -I- hated being talked down to as a child about things I could easily grasp.

Actually, come to think of it, I HATED history class in school because it was so stupidly white washed and boring. When I'd watch documentaries or read encyclopedias or other historic content and find out how much more interesting REAL history was, it would make me even madder.

YES, racism is a touchy subject, but how are kids going to learn about it if they aren't ever exposed to it?

originally posted by: dragonridr
a reply to: Spider879

Here is a question I have for you.. Are you comfortable with a teacher in a public school telling your kids about racism? What if the teacher said things like many black slaves had it better then in a Africa and explains why. Or a teacher says well all whites are racists and refuses to talk about the underground railroad and how whites risked their lives.

A school should keep this subject general when dealing with young children. The topic is complex and sordid. Once they get into high school entirely different then they can evaluate information and make conclusions. I know with my son I went beyond what the school taught. Because he asked but I don't think I would have been comfortable having a teacher explain it to him since he is part of an interracial family. And as such he doesn't need to feel guilt or remorse for actions he couldn't control.

If a teacher is teaching his or her kids that many black slaves had it better under slavery than in Africa as free persons then he or she need to be fired because that would surely be a lie.if the teacher came out with whites are racist and skipped the underground rail road again that's not history that's propaganda and teacher need to be gone, point is there is no excuse for teaching slop to kids a history class should not be about assigning guilt but laying down the facts as accurately as possible, if an inquisitive kid asked where there any white slaves too the answer should be yes, did they formed partnerships with their black bondsman the answer should be yess, did Black people owned slaves yes, did Black people own white slaves the answer should be yes.until it was made unlawful in the west, but not so in Africa and the middle east.
Folks need to stop thinking that the sins of the father should be visited on the sons, that only holds true if the sons carry out the same sins as the father.