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Hard History: Loewen's Teaching What Really Happened

One of my favorite things about studying education is the opportunity to read, watch, or even hear another educator speak about their views on learning theories, teaching strategies, content delivery, and best practice. While I tend to read more about general teaching strategies and the major learning theories that form the foundation of education–based philosophy and thought, I recently took the opportunity in one of my education courses to read a book about teaching the humanities! Written by James W. Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, I’ve spent the past few weeks reading Teaching What Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History. Stuffed full of criticisms for the modern U.S. social studies curriculums and textbooks, Loewen’s Teaching What Really Happened had me cheering at many points, questioning my own experiences at others, and respectfully disagreeing at his remaining arguments. With a central focus on teaching difficult historical topics, particularly those related to race relations, Loewen’s work breaks down several events in history by what really happened, how the facts differ from what’s taught to U.S. students, and recommendations for teaching truth in the future without sacrificing student readiness on academic, social, and emotional levels.


Considering topics that cover large spans of history, some of which persist today, Teaching What Really Happened examines European colonialism and imperialism, the infamous $24 myth regarding the purchase of Manhattan by the Dutch, slavery, the Confederacy, and the Nadir era (approximately 1890-1940). At times, I felt like Loewen’s work was feeding into a common narrative that focuses too much on one minority in America while simply mentioning some others, a sort of hidden irony in the delivery of his otherwise liberating message for history teachers. However, my own criticisms of the current U.S. social studies curriculums and Loewen’s work aside, I felt like Teaching What Really Happened was altogether eye-opening to the realities I will face as an educator in today’s humanities classrooms. One quote eased any initial critiques I had when reading, and I think it captures the overall message of Loewen’s work well:

“The only defensible statement of biological race is this: We are all one race, the human race. Depending upon environmental conditions and the degree of isolation from others, after leaving the part of Africa where humans first originated, people started to grow more different from one another. Then, beginning around 200 BC, developments in transportation and the nation-state began to put people around the world back into contact with one another. It follows that no ‘racial’ differences are qualitative. All are matters of degree” (Loewen, 2018, 239-40).

What an incredible way to look at humanity. All of human history belongs to the human race, no matter how many degrees of separation there may be among us. Of course, humanity is not and never has been perfect, but the truth about our history should not be altered in the classroom. The future of the human race deserves to investigate the true history of our world through developmentally appropriate means. While I cannot provide concrete examples for how I will approach teaching the harder humanities topics since my future students will have a diverse set of learning needs, I am confident in my abilities to adapt lesson content and materials for my students in a way that does not sacrifice the sometimes harsh truth about humans in history. Loewen’s Teaching What Really Happened definitely sparked further thinking on the part I will play as a future social studies teacher: What will my social studies curriculum look like? What truths about history are being overlooked or rejected, and how can I teach students to tackle hard topics without risking their comfort and learning? How can I help students identify their roles as global citizens, and how can we use history as a tool that aims to better the future instead of heal a past that already happened?

History is not an easy subject to teach, especially since historical content traces the impact of living people and major events on currently living people, cultures, and societies. I may never feel fully prepared to answer every question students will have about “hard” history, but I’m certainly not afraid of learning more about teaching social studies in order to try.

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