The Future is Another Country
White children who were taught history lessons including information about racism experienced by African Americans demonstrated less biased attitudes toward African Americans than their white counterparts who received otherwise identical lessons that omitted those ‘pessimistic, unpatriotic’ teachings.
Unit 2 adheres chiefly to the traditional narrative of U.S. history, moving from the First Party System through national development before ending with “Manifest Destiny”—a euphemism for colonialism that has long overstayed its welcome yet remains at home here.
Chapters 5-7 provided numerous opportunities for demonstrating and examining connections between the “West and the rest.” These opportunities, had they taken them, would have allowed this book to be an actual world history.
As part of our special issue on “education” this month, we’re excited to feature a series of reviews of high school history textbook units by professional historians.
Unit 1 of Jackson Spielvogel’s high school history textbook World History: Modern Times is by far the most expansive, covering the period from the Neolithic Age to the Renaissance and a geographical area that encompasses Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. By far its biggest issue is its privileging of European knowledge systems.
This unit does not ask questions of the materials it includes that would provide a greater voice for disenfranchised communities like women, Native Americans, and African Americans.
The Activist History Review