Congratulations Connecticut! But Inclusivity Needs to Start Now
diversity Congratulations Connecticut! But Inclusivity Needs to Start Now The Midgard vision of bringing more inclusivity to schools across the country got a major boost from lawmakers in Connecticut this month when the State passed a law requiring high schools to teach African American and Latino history, though only as a one-credit elective. continue reading September 30, 2019
curriculum Ethnic Studies is History: New Curriculum Guidelines We applaud California’s recent attempts to broaden the curriculum in high school to include greater diversity. We all love Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln, but the American story is so much richer when we include the voices of Hispanics, African-Americans, Native Americans, Jews, Muslims, immigrants of all kinds, gender non-binary folks, the differently abled, and, of course, the most glaring omission in most current history books, women. White men are wonderful, so is everybody else. continue reading September 9, 2019
Ethnic Studies is History: New Curriculum Guidelines
Coming Attractions
diversity Coming Attractions We are very excited to announce the launch of several short videos that illustrate our mission to bring engaging, inclusive, and affordable social studies books to middle school classrooms. We were lucky enough to enlist the skills of the director Richard Schenkman (The Man from Earth, A Diva’s Christmas Carol, Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies, etc). continue reading July 14, 2019
American Hero Whose Story Is It? I once had a parent who demanded a conference with me and my principal because she objected to a lesson I gave tracing Thomas Jefferson’s political philosophy through John Locke and, before him, to Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl. It wasn’t the Scottish philosopher she was upset about, but the Arab. She contended that referencing Arabs in an early American history course was inappropriate, if not wrong. Luckily, my principal allowed me to walk her through the direct influence Islamic thinkers have had on republican democracies. At times, (non-Native) parents have questioned whether the Iroquois really deserve to be considered influencers on the U.S. Constitution. (Non-African-American) parents have also wondered why I have to “talk about black people so much.” I’ve gotten similar comments about Jewish influencers and historic figures who were gay, lesbian, or gender non-normative. continue reading June 8, 2019
Whose Story Is It?
Including You
diversity Including You In a recent controversy, one of the nation’s biggest textbook publishers, McGraw-Hill, had to amend a hundred thousand books because of incorrect description of African slaves in the U.S. as “agricultural workers.” Beyond editorial oversight, this reveals a bias towards Euro-American perspectives. continue reading May 4, 2019
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