THE
PROSPECTOR R,
801 WEST KENSINGTON ROAD MOUNT PROSPECT, ILLINOIS 60056
THE VOICE OF PROSPECT HIGH SCHOOL SINCE 1959
V O E D E S S O L G
VOLUME 60, ISSUE 2
W AS H E D O U T
Portrayal of historical figures in U.S. textbooks comes into question ELIZABETH KEANE Editor-in-Chief
P
resident Donald Trump spoke at the National Archives Museum on Sept. 17 where he argued for implementing a new “pro-American” curriculum in American schools, according to The New York Times. His speech also vowed to counter what he sees as an emerging classroom narrative that “America is a wicked and racist nation,” wanting to create a new “1776 Commission” to promote patriotic education in the nation’s schools. “Our heroes will never be forgotten,” Trump said. “Our youth will be taught to love America.” Since the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement following the death of George Floyd on May 25, certain statues of historical figures have been taken down all across the United States. Trump specifically mentioned the removal of the statue of Caesar Rodney — a Founding Father and signer of the Declaration of Independence — in Wilmington, Delaware. “We cannot erase history, as painful as it may be,” Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki said to The City of Wilmington Delaware News. “But we can certainly discuss history with each other and determine together what we value and what we feel is appropriate to memorialize.” Rodney’s statue, along with a statue of Christopher Columbus, was taken down for the time being — under the instruction of Purzycki — to open up the opportunity for “an overdue discussion about the public display of historical figures and events.” One citizen of Wilmington supported the statues being taken down because he said that Rodney owned slaves and that Columbus raped and pillaged indigenous people during his seafaring voyages. “Being critical of your own country with the intent of saying, ‘We can do better than what we’re doing right now,’ is not unpatriotic or un-American,” AP World History (APWH) teacher Brock Collins said. “If the intent is [to say,] ‘We want to create a country or a society that works for everyone,’ that, to me, is patriotic.” Senior Tessa Fusilero feels that it is appropriate for these statues to be taken down because they are historical figures that are involved in darker parts of American history. By keeping the statues up, she feels that people are idolizing figures who do not represent our country in a positive light. To some like Fusilero, these statues are a representation of a whitewashed American history. As defined by Merriam-Webster, whitewashing is “to alter (something) in a way that favors, features, or caters to white people, such as to portray (the past) in a way that increases the prominence, relevance, or impact of white people and minimizes or misrepresents that of nonwhite people.” “[Whitewashing] essentially creates a justification in which people can deny that racism exists — that structural racism, that systemic racism [exists] — and kind of just move on thinking that everything’s OK,” Collins said. Additionally, Collins feels that a part of whitewashing is the heavy emphasis on white males in terms of their significance to history, or a “white man history.” Senior Peter Napoleon is in favor of
“A RIOT IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE UNHEARD” According to an article from Teaching Tolerance, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is often portrayed as an activist who preached “colorblindness” and neutrality, which is not entirely true. For some, this is considered an example of whitewashing history. (cartoon by Mara Nicolaie) Trump’s suggestion because he feels that all American citizens should be more pro-American. Additionally, Napoleon personally enjoyed learning about Christopher Columbus, but he acknowledged that it may have been whitewashed in terms of praising the positive things Columbus did while “watering down” the negative impact he had on the Native American people who inhabited the land first. With Columbus specifically, Napoleon said he would not care whether the statue stayed up or down. “[When making the decision to take down statues], it really depends on how [much] greater of an impact they had positively versus how much of an impact they had negatively,” Napoleon said. Brad Rathe, who teaches AP U.S. History (APUSH) and American Studies, feels that it is important to put yourself into different contexts when looking at the actions of historical figures. He noted that this does not excuse their racist behavior but that it is important to acknowledge that it was perceived as acceptable in the time they lived in. “If you put [George Washington] in today’s context, he would be seen as very racist,” Rathe said. “But did he do a lot of good things for the country [and] make a lot of good decisions? Yeah, he did.”
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020
In APUSH, where the curriculum is determined by the College Board, Rathe does not have much control over the content or books used in class. However, in American Studies, Rathe assigns the classes to read parts of “A People’s History of the United States” by American historian Howard Zinn — a book that takes a non-traditional approach on American history — in order for students to gain a different perspective than what they may be used to. In terms of the effects of whitewashing, Rathe feels that one of the biggest challenges is finding a balance of how to truthfully teach U.S. History to young children without being too graphic. “You don’t necessarily want to teach little kids about Christopher Columbus trading disease-ridden blankets to the Natives just to kill hundreds and thousands of them [because] that’s probably not right either,” Rathe said. Fusilero, who is Filipino, has taken note of the effects of whitewashing over her years of taking history classes in school. At Prospect, Fusilero has taken AP Human Geography, APWH, APUSH and is now taking World Religions. “To me, [whitewashing] means covering up or glossing over [events] in history,” Fusilero said. “It mostly happens with white
people so they don’t feel as guilty about the things their ancestors have done.” Although Fusilero does not identify as a person of color, she knows that whitewashing is done to benefit her and white people, which she dislikes. She would like to acknowledge history for what really happened, even if it was her ancestors that commited disturbing acts. One of the most specific instances of whitewashing she has noticed throughout her life is the notion that after the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “people just assumed that racism was over.” Fusilero believes that this idea may be due to the lack of representation of Black Americans in history textbooks after this era. Because of this, Fusilero finds it important to educate herself on the impact that people of color have had on history. She feels that the presence of the BLM movement on social media combined with the extra time she has due to the coronavirus pandemic has given her the opportunity to do so. For example, she learned more about a woman named Claudette Colvin. According to Fusilero, Colvin refused to give up her seat on the bus nine months before Rosa Parks did. At the time, Colvin did not fit the beauty standard as a young 15-year-old Black pregnant woman, so she did not receive recognition for her act in the way that Parks did and subsequently did not receive a place in textbooks. Fusilero and Napoleon agree that it is important to acknowledge history for its truth in order to learn and grow as individuals and as a country. Even so, Rathe acknowledges that there are always going to be people who choose to interpret history in their own way, regardless of what sources will say. “Especially in this world today, what do you accept as total fact?” Rathe said. “It’s hard to find; there’s bias … everywhere you look, so it’s kind of up to you to take that into consideration and then draw your own conclusions.” According to an article from Teaching Tolerance, the portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks plays a large role in whitewashing the Civil Rights era. “With the [glossing over of] the Civil Rights movement, I think it’s made people believe that racism isn’t in the United States anymore, or it’s not ‘that bad,’” Fusilero said. “In reality, we see harmful effects of it every day.” “Much of this history gets reduced to encouraging sound bites — the King-andParks narrative — and students often miss learning about the opposition these leaders faced,” the article stated. Furthermore, Dr. King is often portrayed as an activist who preached “colorblindness” and neutrality. Yet, in 1966, Dr. King said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” According to the article, “his messages are often reduced to encouragements ‘not to see race’ or to push ‘civility’ during political discourse.” “We embrace the vision of Martin Luther King, where children are not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” Trump said in the aforementioned speech. The effect of teaching Dr. King’s messages in this way can lead to what some call an “I don’t see color” mantra. According to an article from Forbes, this is more harmful than some people may realize.
SEE HISTORY, page 2.