A Text Test for History

HISTORY’S TEXT TEST

Hugh Murray

            I often listen to Wisconsin Public Radio in the mornings.  One is allowed only one telephone call a week, so I have to choose which program I want to call.  Because they only reveal the program listing a day in advance, if I call on a Monday, I cannot call on a Friday even if the Friday subject is more pertinent to my interests.

            Today, at 6am, the guest was a history professor from a public Wisconsin university who was discussing the poor scores of American students in history.  The professor had suggestions for those teaching in schools, like have a student represent a worker, another a Black, an industrialist, a politician, a mother, etc.,   They learn what each might believe regarding various issues in 1900 etc.  A Black listener called to say one reason for the low scores in history was that Blacks were often left out, or mere footnotes to the history taught.  The topic of inclusion rose, and either the professor or the host now mentioned that the White House was actually built by Blacks.

            I called and talked to the screener, saying I wanted to criticize political correctness.  I am “Hugh from Milwaukee.”  The screener informed me that another caller waiting to be heard also wanted to speak about p.c., so they might not get to me.  I heard the program and the various callers, including one who attacked political correctness.  Finally, around the 54^th minute, the host got to my call. 

            I began by stating that earlier in the program you mentioned that the White House had been built by Blacks.   That may be true.  However, more important was the decision to build a White House.  And the decision as to where to locate the nation’s capital.  And the decision as to who should reside in the White House.  And though it is unfashionable today, on all of these issues, the important decision-makers were white men.  And furthermore,…

            The host cut me off, saying we are out of time and the professor has to summarize his points.  I was annoyed about being unable to finish my point.

            I do think that deciding who will be President, where to locate the capital, and the compromises between North and South, of which placing the capital between Maryland/Virginia was one, are all more important historically than the color of the workers who followed directions to build the White House.  Indeed, I would contend that workers are not as important, on most occasions, than the bigger decision makers.   For example, had the big whigs (an appropriate phrase in 1780s) decided to locate the nation’s capital in Boston, or in Charleston, a totally different set of workers would have erected the building.

            Moreover, why did the program even mention the builders of the White House?  Had the builders been white, would the professor, or the host, have bothered?  The only reason the workers were mentioned was because they were Black.  This is clearly less important than the question of the location of the capital, and who will reside in the Presidential palace.  Indeed, the mentioning of the builders of the White House IS a footnote to history.  It is mentioned mainly to appeal to (or pander to) Blacks.

            What is wrong with the teaching of history?  When the footnotes are removed from the bottom of the page and inserted into the main text, and what is important is deemphasized, demoted to a footnote, or deleted altogether, all for political reasons, then history has ceased to be history.  It becomes boring propaganda: a long string of one colored of feminine footnote after another.  The builders of the White House were Black; the man who invented the traffic light was Black; a doctor who improved the method of blood transfusions was Black.  Taught this way, history is meaningless, and cannot inspire students even to study the basics.  By trying to raise all the colored/feminine footnotes of history into the text, educators have lost sight of the action, and the actors of history.  Because most of the actors of American History are white males, and because most educators are prejudiced against this group, the educators have created a collage of footnotes, which is not a still life, but merely a lifeless still.  And then the educators wonder why students do so poorly!

            The main test for whether an item about minorities of women should be included in the text is this: would this be included if the same action had been performed by a white male?  Using this text test, history would cease to be politically correct propaganda, and become something memorable.