Texas Republicans take aim at history this Juneteenth. It could totally backfire.
On June 16, Texas history made the news twice. Both developments, in strikingly different ways, present an opportunity for history teachers to engage with their students anew about history, with all its intriguing complications, and its promise for teaching us today.
In a strangely bipartisan scene, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution to establish Juneteenth (June 19) as a national holiday, to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat, joined Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, and Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat, in leading the effort.
Later that afternoon, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott unceremoniously signed HB 3979 into law, a bill that joins a host of others across the country known by some as "anti-1619" bills. In this act to alter the social studies curriculum standards for Texas public schools, the bill's supporters bar teachers from teaching their students even the concept that slavery was part of the founding ideals of the United States.
Spirit of Sam Houston, we have a problem.
The Republican leadership in Texas wants students to celebrate Juneteenth, and I applaud that. It is hard to believe that there is still no federal holiday to recognize, much less celebrate, the end of slavery in this nation. But what are we celebrating, practically? We're celebrating the end of an American law. The end of an American ideal. The end of American slavery. And the problem with Texas's HB 3979 — and every other similar law across the country — is that it wants to squelch the teaching of this truth. It wants students to taste the sweet fruit of Juneteenth without considering the rotten roots of slavery and racism.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-republicans-take-aim-at-history-this-juneteenth-it-could-totally-backfire/ar-AALdmr0
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