UMass Panel To Explore “Telling The Truth About History”

Source: UMass Department of History

The UMass Department of History and Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab at Florida International University will present a panel discussioin on the ongoing national assault on teaching accurate, evidence-based history in k-12 schools. The event will be held over Zoom on Monday, April 4 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and is open to the public.   Register for the event here. 

For not the first time in U.S. history, the content of public school curricula is being challenged across the country. Since January 2021, 41 states have introduced bills or taken other steps that would restrict the teaching or discussion of “divisive concepts,” such as racism, sexism, critical race theory, and the 1619 Project. A Tennessee school board recently banned teaching the Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust novel Maus. And at least 16 states are considering “don’t say gay” laws, which restrict discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity.  

This panel of scholars, political leaders, and teachers will address the ongoing national assault against teaching accurate and evidence-based history at the K-12 level, and increasingly, at the community college and university levels. Panelists will consider the history of public school educational disputes around race, sex and sexuality and the impact these educational gag orders have, not just on the teaching of history, but most importantly on our democratic system of government and the meaning of equality in the United States. Panelists will also consider ways to push back against these challenges. A public Q&A will follow.

Read more here

The Panelists
Barbara Krauthamer (Moderator), Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and Professor of History at UMass Amherst and Award-winning Historian of African American Slavery and Emancipation

Laura Briggs, Professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies, UMass Amherst and Member of the OAH Academic Freedom Committee

Shevrin Jones, Florida State Senator, Educator, and Leading Voice Against Critical Race Theory “Bans” and “Don’t Say Gay” Legislation

Jennifer Rich, Executive Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Associate Professor of Sociology at Rowan University

Raphael Rogers, Associate Professor of Education Practice at Clark University and Experienced History Teacher who Focuses on Racism in Children’s Texts and K-12 Education