McGraw-Hill to rewrite textbook after mom's complaint

Textbook publisher McGraw-Hill will rewrite a section in one of its books after a Houston-area mother complained that it whitewashes the role of slavery in bringing Africans to America.

Roni Dean-Burren took to Facebook last week to vent her frustration over the wording of a passage in her son's "World Geography" textbook that calls African slaves "workers" and "immigrants."

"The Atlantic slave trade brought millions of workers ... notice the nuanced language there. Workers implies wages ... yes?" she wrote.
edition.cnn.com...

Don't stop here klik the link to full article including vid.
Now yet again I have to be the bad guy, someone somewhere will accuse me or the source of divisiveness , and pls folks I do not want to get into the whole who is responsible for slavery or why the " Blacks " can't stop braying over it or my Irish great grand daddy was a slave too or close to it, it's not that type of thread we have those aplenty, can we agree that history books are being fkwith for an obvious political agenda and that it needs to stop. this is not the only issue there is the man walked with dinos creationist movement who are probably the same people.
As an layman historian mucking about with history is particularly offensive.

While I fully understand the gripe...

It wouldn't be grammatically correct to say the slave trade brought over many slaves...

It's stating the obvious...



But yes, "workers" seems like a pretty whitewashed word to use.

a reply to: Spider879

I agree with her. Describing them as "workers" is a whitewash.

In before the "we should just get over slavery because they were sold by black people".

Glad they were able to get the change done.

originally posted by: DelMarvel
a reply to: Spider879

I agree with her. Describing them as "workers" is a whitewash.

This is exactly how dictatorship rises.

Keep calling the slaves, workers eventually no one knows what a real slave is in definition.

"True, citizens are not force to work for others but, maintain their cultural identity by the state and are free to go anywhere they want within the state/country."

"Slaves do have to work for others, either by force or by subjugation."

People saying blacks selling blacks for slavery is a true part of history, but don't forget. Africa like Europe had many tribes and Empires. Most of the slaves were done by subjugation by other blacks who were greedy. They let themselves fall through the power of greed.

They could have used the word captives or forced labor.

a reply to: Mloli

You must spend the same amount of time reading my post if you think that

I like having admirers, makes me feel warm and fuzzy

Somebody just got Charlie Speired!

I ran across this story earlier today, kind of irked me really.
Immigrants? Really, imports maybe, or how about kidnapped or stolen? Forced relocation?
at least the indentured servants were acknowledged as being paid really low wages, I wonder if it mentioned anywhere in that textbook that those "immigrants" from africa were forced to work for whatever their owners saw fit to provide for them?

Maybe they are hoping that after a few generations of fake history, the races will get along better, I don't know. But to me, it seems that building a future that is built on lies would just about assure failure at some point.

a reply to: IridiumFlareMadness

Mate, he was at it yesterday saying the exact same things to people.

Funny as hell, I can't tell if it's sarcasm or brutal honesty to be honest.

originally posted by: calstorm
They could have used the word captives or forced labor.

'Captives' works.

They'll re-write a book at the drop of a hat.

The tax payers pay the schools- which pay way, way too much for each book. New version of the book? Better spend a few million dollars on the latest copy.

It's yet another racket.

a reply to: lordcomac
the online version of the book will be changed immediately, the revised printed version will take some time. schools don't buy these textbooks every year, they are too expensive so unless they offer to let the schools trade in the old version for the new version without any additional costs, well, some of these schools will be stuck with these books for 4 or 5 years probably.

Telling the truth about the history of our country shouldn't be a political issue. Admitting the gruesome horror of our faults, and coming to terms with the permanent destruction they have done is the only path to moving forward. And the only way to feel a true pride for all the good things our country has done. The only people that make this a political issue are those that don't want to admit what has actually happened here and fight to cover it up through revisionist history.

a reply to: okrian

or maybe they are hoping to repeat history eventually, after the truth is forgotten.
I mean when it comes to these bad parts of history (which at the time, probably didn't seem that bad or immoral to those living) maybe it's better to know that they happen and well be aware at just how far we've come and be resolute in the idea that we will never go back. our ancestor weren't perfect, big deal, we aren't either. but in alot of ways, we are better!!!

a reply to: Spider879

Saw this on Twitter earlier, and it's a whitewash indeed. Glad they're going to change it.

What's next, changing the WWII concentration camp gas chambers to euthanasia rooms?

I'm sure that textbook isn't the only source of information.

"The Atlantic slave trade brought millions of workers ... notice the nuanced language there. Workers implies wages ... yes?" she wrote.

I really think this is trivial nitpicking to be honest. It says it right there in the same sentence, "slave trade". If you own a slave, the slave works for you. Work doesn't imply pay. I work hard at my hobbies unpaid. It just seems like a waste of time and someone trying to grab their 15 minutes.