A Message to Our Educators on Teaching History

Since its founding, Facing History has dedicated itself to teaching factual history—in all its complexity. We believe students, especially adolescents in key moments of their development, are capable of navigating hard truths about the past, and are owed a thoughtful and complete education of our country’s past.

Facing History is troubled by the current movement seeking to curb or abolish the teaching of complete American History in public schools. We believe such efforts  harmfully attempt to prevent teachers and students from having the honest, and knowledge-based conversations that are the hallmark of a rigorous history and civics education.

For now, it’s unclear how these laws and efforts will be enforced or if these laws are even constitutional. Regardless, Facing History’s approach is, and always has been, to support teachers as you help students learn to wrestle with complex concepts, to consider historical facts rigorously, and to develop ethical and moral lenses with which to decide what they think and believe. Our pedagogy and strategies are designed to meet these goals, and we stand behind our approach. As an education-based organization, we remain deeply concerned about what these legislative efforts could mean for the teaching of history for a generation of students.

For those of you living in states with these restrictions in place—or even pending—we know how challenging this is for you. We appreciate and value the important work you are doing, trusting your students as they explore hard history with courage, clear eyes, and compassion. We are grateful that you continue to use our materials, to encourage students to learn about the history of race and racism in US history, which is more important now than ever. So, thank you for partnering with Facing History and for continuing to lead your classrooms with honesty and truth.