Below is a photo of Harriet Tubman. Abolitionist. Leader/conductor of the Underground Railroad. Student of stars in the nighttime sky. Seer of visions. Spy for Union forces. A woman with a disability (inflicted upon her by a slaveholder). She was a woman who didn’t stop. She was a believer and a faithful witness.
In a different century, she would have been the original owner of the t-shirt “Nevertheless, she persisted”. You can read more about her online at Zinn Education Project. I also learned more about her life by reading the fiction book The Water Dancer where the character Moses is based on Harriet Tubman. For kids, there are several choices, but when my girls were emerging readers they liked the book about her from the “Who is” series. There are any number of places where you should be able to read about Harriet Tubman. Why I am writing about her today, however, has to do with the “changes” that the National Park Service has made to some of their websites talking about Harriet Tubman’s work as a Conductor on the Underground Railroad. You can read more here from CNN. Thankfully the NPS hasn’t scrubbed all references to Tubman, but the question is, why would they need to scrub any?
The answer to that question lies in this Executive Order from the end of March.
I don’t love linking to that, and I almost didn’t, but one of the things I keep coming back to is the importance of checking out sources. It is easy to hear something and think “it can’t be that bad” or even to hear something else and then have a nuclear response. I always try to check sources rather than just believing a headline, And I try to model that for my students. I talk to them about the importance of fact-checking. I ask them to be critical thinkers about a topic. We ask ourselves “How might we be wrong about this? Who is this serving? Who is this marginalizing?”
There are other questions that promote critical thinking about history. Here’s a good list from UC Berkeley on historical/social science critical thinking.
Think critically. Speak wisely. But do speak.
“Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented” (Elie Wiesel)
Teaching (toward) the Beloved Community 
An insightful and critical examination of the current trends in revising history, particularly within the context of global narratives shaped by political agendas. The author expertly dissects how such revisions can distort our understanding of pivotal moments, emphasizing the need for an honest, unflinching recounting of history. This blog serves as a crucial call to action for educators and individuals alike, urging us to safeguard the integrity of historical truth in a world increasingly influenced by revisionist forces.
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