The Erasure of Diverse American Histories

Recent executive actions from the White House have sparked serious concerns about the integrity of American historical education. The Executive Action, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” raises alarming questions about whose truth is being centered and whose continues to be marginalized.

The Pattern of Historical Erasure

This latest directive appears to follow a disturbing pattern of policies designed to narrow the American historical narrative by minimizing or eliminating the contributions and experiences of diverse populations. Just as other recent orders (such as “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences,” or “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”) have attempted to erase the histories and presence LGBTQ+ Americans, this order seems poised to diminish the rich historical contributions of non-white Americans who have been essential to building our nation.

American history is not a single narrative but a complex tapestry of interrelated stories. When we attempt to simplify this tapestry to showcase only certain threads, we not only do a disservice to historical accuracy but also deny future generations the full understanding of how our nation developed through the contributions of people from all backgrounds.

The Indispensable Contributions We Risk Forgetting

Consider what American history would look like without acknowledging the following:

• The mathematical brilliance of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, whose calculations were crucial to early American space exploration
• The agricultural innovations of George Washington Carver that revolutionized Southern farming
• The medical breakthroughs of Dr. Charles Drew, whose blood plasma research saved countless lives during World War II
• The architectural and engineering feats of enslaved craftspeople who built many of our nation’s historic structures
• The legal mind of Thurgood Marshall, who transformed American constitutional law
• The Indigenous knowledge systems that informed American agriculture, medicine, and governance
• The countless contributions of Chinese workers who built the Transcontinental Railroad
• The Mexican and Filipino farmworkers whose labor continues to feed our nation

These contributions – only a fraction of what is often not taught – aren’t peripheral to American history; they are central to it. Our technological advancement, economic growth, and cultural innovations would be unimaginable without the diverse minds and hands that shaped them.

Education as the Battleground

It is no coincidence that these efforts coincide with proposals to eliminate the Department of Education. Both represent different aspects of the same agenda: controlling knowledge to control power.

When education becomes centralized in the hands of those who wish to present a narrowed historical view, critical thinking itself becomes endangered. History isn’t simply about memorizing dates and events—it’s about understanding complex causality, recognizing patterns across time, and developing the analytical skills necessary for democratic citizenship.

By limiting access to diverse historical perspectives, we create a population more susceptible to simplistic narratives and less equipped to question authority. In an era where misinformation spreads rapidly, the development of critical reasoning skills has never been more crucial.

Advocating for Inclusive History

As concerned citizens, we must recognize that this isn’t simply a debate about how history is taught—it’s about whether we believe in a democracy where all voices matter and all citizens have the right to know their place in our national story.

We can respond by:

1. Supporting educational initiatives and institutions that preserve and teach inclusive history
2. Engaging with school boards and educational policymakers at the local level
3. Seeking out and sharing histories that might otherwise be marginalized
4. Supporting libraries, archives, and other cultural heritage organizations that maintain diverse historical records
5. Encouraging critical thinking skills in the next generation

The most effective resistance to historical erasure is to ensure that diverse histories continue to be documented, taught, and celebrated, regardless of shifting political winds.

Protecting inclusive, accurate historical education isn’t a partisan issue—it’s about preserving the full story of who we are as a nation and ensuring that all Americans can see themselves in our shared narrative. When we erase parts of our history, we don’t just lose stories—we lose the vital lessons those stories have to teach us about building a more just and equitable future.

Recommended Reading

To learn more, you may consider reading some of these resources:

Anderson, C. (2016). White rage: The unspoken truth of our racial divide. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Baptist, E. E. (2014). The half has never been told: Slavery and the making of American capitalism. Basic Books.

Dunbar-Ortiz, R. (2015). An Indigenous peoples’ history of the United States. Beacon Press.

Hannah-Jones, N., Elliott, M., Hughes, J., & Silverstein, J. (Eds.). (2021). The 1619 Project: A new origin story. One World.

Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to be an antiracist. One World.

Ravitch, D. (2020). Slaying Goliath: The passionate resistance to privatization and the fight to save America’s public schools. Knopf.

Takaki, R. (1993). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America. Little Brown & Co.

Zinn, H. (2017). A people’s history of the United States. Harper.