Thank you so much for this piece, Sharon. I am reminded of one of my favorite lessons from high school history, where our teacher Mrs. Lee explained the Lost Cause disinformation campaign. After walking us through how the narrative was constructed, she didn’t just tell us it was false; she asked us to do our own research to prove it, not just because someone today says so, but because the Confederates’ own words contradicted the Lost Cause narrative.
I found Texas’s Declaration of Causes, their official document explaining why they were seceding from the United States. The document explicitly states that Texas was leaving because “the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator.” Slavery was their God-given right to own people, and the northern states were therefore against God. They went on to declare that the federal government had been “proclaiming the debasing doctrine of equality of all men, irrespective of race or color” and complained that non-slaveholding states had been “proclaiming the degrading equality of the white and black races.” Not a word about abstract states’ rights in general! Just the specific right to capture and own human beings.
That lesson has stayed with me for decades. It taught me how to form opinions based on facts and primary sources, not just accept a narrative I’ve been told. It showed me that historical truth exists in documents and evidence, not in whoever happens to be telling the story at the moment. And it demonstrated that good teachers don’t just hand students conclusions. They give them the tools to reach those conclusions themselves.
This nostalgia for lifelong lessons in how to think critically, instead of regurgitating what I have been told, makes me even more enthusiastic to help teachers and students today. The educators who are losing funding while pyrotechnic shows are being planned are the same ones teaching students how to evaluate sources, question authorities, and seek truth out from under the muddy mess of misinformation being created and distributed under the guise of patriotism. They’re the ones ensuring that the next generation will know how to distinguish between history and propaganda, between commemoration and indoctrination. And that uphill battle just continues getting steeper, it seems.
I’ll be making a donation using your Teacher’s Aid tool after submitting this comment. Thank you so much for standing up for truth and for teachers. The battle for our past really is a battle for the future, and we can’t afford to let that future be shaped by those who trade historical complexity for fascism.
The wish list process went great! The 5th grade students of Mrs. Smith in Stillwater, MN have a well-reviewed math game coming their way. I recommend scrolling down and stopping somewhere random to find someone who has a fuller list, whereas the wish lists at the top have likely gotten more attention.
Thank you for telling us about this. I had no idea.
More importantly, thank you for telling us how we can resist.
I grew up in Independence, MO, where we have the Truman Library. They are dedicated to telling the unvarnished truth. I am now dedicated to supporting them. Thanks to you, I now understand it is a national imperative.
Do white people as a whole really feel so insecure, inadequate and inferior that Trump finds it necessary to spend so much time, energy and money rewriting history and stamping out anything with a whiff of inclusivity? Or is it just what psychologists refer to as projection?
I'm preaching to the choir here, but this country is both incredible (I mean, it is a special place geographically, culturally, and historically) AND we've done some super messed up stuff.
What countries have done well with reckoning with their histories? South Africa comes to mind as well as Canada with their Truth and Reconciliation campaigns. I felt like we were getting close to coming to grips with our history during the summer of 2020, but now it would be considered too "woke." Surely there is still room and still time to move us forward.
As an artist, I believe that art (music, film, dance, theater, etc. etc. etc.) can help sway the culture. Talking points and memes only get any movement so far. Art is a vehicle for transformation and in many ways may the medicine itself.
Have y'all seen recent examples of good art in our society?
I was just talking about this with my husband. He said the 1976 celebration was riddled with partisan fights as well. My prediction is the official celebration will be about as spectacular as the parade in June was.
I like Sharon’s idea at the end. America does belong to all of us.
My state is also celebrating 250 years at the same time. Our local Revolutionary War museum has programs starting this fall commemorating not only its part in the war but the larger issues impacting our state during that time. Including the first enslaved Africans brought to our shores, the local Indigenous communities and how they impacted colonists and local culture and a series on witchcraft! Our history is so short in the United States compared to other countries. It's amazing in some ways to think of what Ancient Greeks or the British did to celebrate their 250 year mark. Did it have the cultural impact the anniversary does for us? Were there celebrations?
Thank you for covering this topic! I follow America 250 on their social media pages and have definitely noticed a shift in content and tone in the last several months. It’s really sad.
I’ll just say it isn’t lost on me that our country’s cultural divisions (lack of shared identity) are reaching another peak while also celebrating the 250 anniversary AND that the average lifespan of an empire is 250 years. The pessimistic and, shall we call it, anthropological side of me predicts our country will shift tremendously soon to become something (or multiple somethings) else entirely.
Do you all think that Americans are just not seeing the slide into authoritarianism? Haven’t people read about N Korea, Russian Gulags. Rumania and Ceaucescu. I can go on….
I honestly believe that they don't see it. They think it's somehow different because they only see how it benefits them. OR, and this is far more sinister, they see it and they don't care because they think that the sword wielded against the people they hate today can't be used against them tomorrow.
I don't really understand it either. It's depressing to believe and difficult to understand how anyone can miss the signs that are so clearly in front of us.
I had no idea. Thanks to you, now I do. Your lead statement says it as clearly as I could imagine. The distortion being perpetrated by the current administration is beyond breathtaking. I will be sharing your piece as broadly as I can, in hopes that awareness will generate massive pushback in so many forms it will be impossible to resist. It appears likely there will be two celebrations: one by those who do not believe in Our Great American Experiment and one (in many forms) by those who do. How sad that the latter group will be forced to pay for the not believers' celebration. But this battle will rage far beyond the 250 mark and perhaps will tell the real story far better than any single celebratory event could. That is up to us, isn't it?
Thanks for the article once again. I do consider myself a patriot. I love my country. I have an American flag on my house and in my house. I would love to be able to celebrate my country 250th anniversary with the class and pride.
It breaks my heart that the president of the United States lack the character that we need in this country right now. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thank You for this history and this current awareness of Trump Admin trying to divide us over this precious anniversary. Paul Ryan, wow, you do not get more conservative than him, yet he has been DRIVEN OUT of the Maga party. So sad but so good to KNOW. THANK YOU! Maybe some of the rest of us; with the 4 brave Leaders who refused to step down; can plan some of this anyway? LOVE THIS original idea. PS: Heard your Interview on NPR yesterday; WOW so inspiring. You said that the more easily angered/scared one is; the more easily manipulated. Wow I needed that. It will help me focus on calming and listening neutrally. THANKS for being YOU and Doing YOUR IMPORTANT WORK: and it is SO VERY IMPORTANT. Your TED TALK right after the election has given me hope and I have re watched it several times. I have Septimus Clark's quote "I can even work with my enemires ....Cuz I know from experience; they can change their minds at any minute." I have wondered how many ICE workers have QUITE? Gotta be alot. IF they offer Superman 100K to join; and I heard they are offering that routinely; they must be SO DESPERATE. I LIKE to think many of those young ish men are decent and caring at core and cannot stomach it! THANK YOU. KellyAnn in Oregon's capitol :)
It was never really about conservatives; it was about a willingness to "bend the knee" and swear fealty. I think it started with conservatives because it's easier to tap into the fear that something bad will happen to you and yours, which is the basis of the GOP's talking points. "Watch out or an immigrant will take your job!" "Immigrants are getting free housing and healthcare, and now there is nothing for you!" It was easier to tap into those fears, and so they were more easily manipulated.
Any Republicans on here who’d like to explain your thoughts on this? Is it unsettling to you, or does it all seem in line with what you like about the Trump administration’s resistance to anything DEI?
I’m just really curious how staunch Republicans who read this article feel about this.
Any Republicans brave enough to share your thoughts on here?
Thank you for this information-even tho it is so exhaustingly discouraging. I would also say this appears- yet again, for the umpteenth millionth time- a way for trump and his synchophants to use this event as an opportunity to steal from Americans.
Thank you so much for this piece, Sharon. I am reminded of one of my favorite lessons from high school history, where our teacher Mrs. Lee explained the Lost Cause disinformation campaign. After walking us through how the narrative was constructed, she didn’t just tell us it was false; she asked us to do our own research to prove it, not just because someone today says so, but because the Confederates’ own words contradicted the Lost Cause narrative.
I found Texas’s Declaration of Causes, their official document explaining why they were seceding from the United States. The document explicitly states that Texas was leaving because “the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator.” Slavery was their God-given right to own people, and the northern states were therefore against God. They went on to declare that the federal government had been “proclaiming the debasing doctrine of equality of all men, irrespective of race or color” and complained that non-slaveholding states had been “proclaiming the degrading equality of the white and black races.” Not a word about abstract states’ rights in general! Just the specific right to capture and own human beings.
That lesson has stayed with me for decades. It taught me how to form opinions based on facts and primary sources, not just accept a narrative I’ve been told. It showed me that historical truth exists in documents and evidence, not in whoever happens to be telling the story at the moment. And it demonstrated that good teachers don’t just hand students conclusions. They give them the tools to reach those conclusions themselves.
This nostalgia for lifelong lessons in how to think critically, instead of regurgitating what I have been told, makes me even more enthusiastic to help teachers and students today. The educators who are losing funding while pyrotechnic shows are being planned are the same ones teaching students how to evaluate sources, question authorities, and seek truth out from under the muddy mess of misinformation being created and distributed under the guise of patriotism. They’re the ones ensuring that the next generation will know how to distinguish between history and propaganda, between commemoration and indoctrination. And that uphill battle just continues getting steeper, it seems.
I’ll be making a donation using your Teacher’s Aid tool after submitting this comment. Thank you so much for standing up for truth and for teachers. The battle for our past really is a battle for the future, and we can’t afford to let that future be shaped by those who trade historical complexity for fascism.
The wish list process went great! The 5th grade students of Mrs. Smith in Stillwater, MN have a well-reviewed math game coming their way. I recommend scrolling down and stopping somewhere random to find someone who has a fuller list, whereas the wish lists at the top have likely gotten more attention.
Thank you for telling us about this. I had no idea.
More importantly, thank you for telling us how we can resist.
I grew up in Independence, MO, where we have the Truman Library. They are dedicated to telling the unvarnished truth. I am now dedicated to supporting them. Thanks to you, I now understand it is a national imperative.
Do white people as a whole really feel so insecure, inadequate and inferior that Trump finds it necessary to spend so much time, energy and money rewriting history and stamping out anything with a whiff of inclusivity? Or is it just what psychologists refer to as projection?
Both can be true.
I'm preaching to the choir here, but this country is both incredible (I mean, it is a special place geographically, culturally, and historically) AND we've done some super messed up stuff.
What countries have done well with reckoning with their histories? South Africa comes to mind as well as Canada with their Truth and Reconciliation campaigns. I felt like we were getting close to coming to grips with our history during the summer of 2020, but now it would be considered too "woke." Surely there is still room and still time to move us forward.
As an artist, I believe that art (music, film, dance, theater, etc. etc. etc.) can help sway the culture. Talking points and memes only get any movement so far. Art is a vehicle for transformation and in many ways may the medicine itself.
Have y'all seen recent examples of good art in our society?
I was just talking about this with my husband. He said the 1976 celebration was riddled with partisan fights as well. My prediction is the official celebration will be about as spectacular as the parade in June was.
I like Sharon’s idea at the end. America does belong to all of us.
My state is also celebrating 250 years at the same time. Our local Revolutionary War museum has programs starting this fall commemorating not only its part in the war but the larger issues impacting our state during that time. Including the first enslaved Africans brought to our shores, the local Indigenous communities and how they impacted colonists and local culture and a series on witchcraft! Our history is so short in the United States compared to other countries. It's amazing in some ways to think of what Ancient Greeks or the British did to celebrate their 250 year mark. Did it have the cultural impact the anniversary does for us? Were there celebrations?
Thank you for covering this topic! I follow America 250 on their social media pages and have definitely noticed a shift in content and tone in the last several months. It’s really sad.
I’ll just say it isn’t lost on me that our country’s cultural divisions (lack of shared identity) are reaching another peak while also celebrating the 250 anniversary AND that the average lifespan of an empire is 250 years. The pessimistic and, shall we call it, anthropological side of me predicts our country will shift tremendously soon to become something (or multiple somethings) else entirely.
I’ve often wondered what will happen around the 250 year mark.
Do you all think that Americans are just not seeing the slide into authoritarianism? Haven’t people read about N Korea, Russian Gulags. Rumania and Ceaucescu. I can go on….
I honestly believe that they don't see it. They think it's somehow different because they only see how it benefits them. OR, and this is far more sinister, they see it and they don't care because they think that the sword wielded against the people they hate today can't be used against them tomorrow.
I can’t understand it
I don't really understand it either. It's depressing to believe and difficult to understand how anyone can miss the signs that are so clearly in front of us.
I had no idea. Thanks to you, now I do. Your lead statement says it as clearly as I could imagine. The distortion being perpetrated by the current administration is beyond breathtaking. I will be sharing your piece as broadly as I can, in hopes that awareness will generate massive pushback in so many forms it will be impossible to resist. It appears likely there will be two celebrations: one by those who do not believe in Our Great American Experiment and one (in many forms) by those who do. How sad that the latter group will be forced to pay for the not believers' celebration. But this battle will rage far beyond the 250 mark and perhaps will tell the real story far better than any single celebratory event could. That is up to us, isn't it?
Thanks for the article once again. I do consider myself a patriot. I love my country. I have an American flag on my house and in my house. I would love to be able to celebrate my country 250th anniversary with the class and pride.
It breaks my heart that the president of the United States lack the character that we need in this country right now. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Thank You for this history and this current awareness of Trump Admin trying to divide us over this precious anniversary. Paul Ryan, wow, you do not get more conservative than him, yet he has been DRIVEN OUT of the Maga party. So sad but so good to KNOW. THANK YOU! Maybe some of the rest of us; with the 4 brave Leaders who refused to step down; can plan some of this anyway? LOVE THIS original idea. PS: Heard your Interview on NPR yesterday; WOW so inspiring. You said that the more easily angered/scared one is; the more easily manipulated. Wow I needed that. It will help me focus on calming and listening neutrally. THANKS for being YOU and Doing YOUR IMPORTANT WORK: and it is SO VERY IMPORTANT. Your TED TALK right after the election has given me hope and I have re watched it several times. I have Septimus Clark's quote "I can even work with my enemires ....Cuz I know from experience; they can change their minds at any minute." I have wondered how many ICE workers have QUITE? Gotta be alot. IF they offer Superman 100K to join; and I heard they are offering that routinely; they must be SO DESPERATE. I LIKE to think many of those young ish men are decent and caring at core and cannot stomach it! THANK YOU. KellyAnn in Oregon's capitol :)
It was never really about conservatives; it was about a willingness to "bend the knee" and swear fealty. I think it started with conservatives because it's easier to tap into the fear that something bad will happen to you and yours, which is the basis of the GOP's talking points. "Watch out or an immigrant will take your job!" "Immigrants are getting free housing and healthcare, and now there is nothing for you!" It was easier to tap into those fears, and so they were more easily manipulated.
Any Republicans on here who’d like to explain your thoughts on this? Is it unsettling to you, or does it all seem in line with what you like about the Trump administration’s resistance to anything DEI?
I’m just really curious how staunch Republicans who read this article feel about this.
Any Republicans brave enough to share your thoughts on here?
Wow. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for this information-even tho it is so exhaustingly discouraging. I would also say this appears- yet again, for the umpteenth millionth time- a way for trump and his synchophants to use this event as an opportunity to steal from Americans.
I had never even heard of this!