introduction

Message from the History Teacher

by Karen Falcon

“We, the young, Black representatives, protest about how history is taught. We believe that children should know all of their history. They should know what their ancestors have been through and how they were powerful, fought back and got their freedom. We recommend that children should not only learn about one side of history. We should learn the heart of history. We need to know the truth about what came before so we can know who we really are and what we were brought on earth to do.” These words were written by fifth and sixth grade students at Jubilee. They were part of a Declaration of Principles the students wrote, modeled on a Declaration W.E.B. Du Bois created in 1905. This principle is reflected in the stories students choose to research and document in “Journey to the Center of the Twentieth Century”. Jubilee’s work on this textbook has been inspired not only by Du Bois, but also by Howard Zinn’s approach to learning and documenting history. Like Howard Zinn, we see the value of uncovering the under-told stories of resistance through interviewing members of our community, as well as from reading primary sources. And, like Howard Zinn, we see the vital importance of documenting these stories, and making them available to children whose textbooks leave out the powerful stories which are part of their legacy. The stories enable children to see themselves not only as scholars of history, but also as history makers.