Learning outcomes and reflections from the semester

¶ … watches a recording of an event, when learning of it one must be happy with a version of events that has been filtered by another person. This person may be a reporter, they may be the creator of a program, or they may be a writer; but someone will always be giving their version of the events, with all their prejudices and preconceptions. This has been the case with many history textbooks written about the United States over the years. The writers of textbooks have been servants to an idealized version of American history, and therefore, have cleansed their works of any and all embarrassing facts. Historical figures, with all their human faults, have been transformed into saintly, heroic figures of unstained virtue and honor. Events, or ideas which are no longer acceptable to the modern public have been removed and are no longer mentioned in the texts. If there is anything I have learned this semester it is that all history textbooks are written by those with agendas, sometimes political, sometimes economic, and sometimes honorable, but they all write their version of history as they want the reader to see it.

It is a common belief, albeit wrong, that George Washington never told a lie. There is even a story about him chopping down a cherry tree and admitting to it rather than lie about it. But this is just an example of the heroification of certain historical figures, a process by which the American educational system turns "flesh-and-blood individuals into pious, perfect creatures without conflicts, pain, credibility, or human interest." (Loewen 11) In the 20th century, another president has been heroified by the educational system, Woodrow Wilson. Most Americans are taught that Woodrow Wilson kept American out of World War I until he was forced into it by German actions, and afterward struggled to create the League of Nations. While he is also remembered as the president who supported women's suffrage, few have ever read that Woodrow Wilson was a devoted white supremacist who racially segregated the federal government for the first time. He sent legislation to Congress that would severely limit the civil rights of African-Americans, he refused to appoint African-Americans to government posts traditionally reserved for them, segregated the military for the first time, and even "vetoed a clause on racial equality in the Covenant of the League of Nations." (Loewen 20) But instead of being taught everything about Woodrow Wilson, most history textbooks limit themselves to presenting Wilson as an almost perfect progressive president.

A few decades later the United States was involved in a conflict which was as complicated as it was long; with American involvement lasting from 1965 to 1973. The conflict in Vietnam was extremely controversial at the time and historians have not always presented the complexities, or the images available to the readers. For instance, many historically important photographs have been left out of textbooks in an attempt to gloss over the human issues involved in the war. Whether it was images of a burning monk, a policeman shooting a person in the head, or a child running naked down a highway, (Loewen 246-48) controversial images seem to be left out of certain texts in the hope that the image of America will not be tarnished by its past actions.

In spite of these efforts, some textbooks have been published recently that take a more objective view at American history, one of which is Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Instead of glossing over the conflict in Vietnam, Zinn presents his readers with a view of the war that is as complex as the war itself. He does not apologize for America's actions, nor does he attempt to omit embarrassing episodes, but successfully presents the reader with the objective facts; mainly that America was fighting a war it could not win. While many other textbooks simply discuss the war in a sterilized manner, Zinn allows the reader to feel the emotion of the war by discussing all aspects of it. For instance, the South Vietnamese government has been traditionally represented as independent and democratic, but in fact Zinn asserts that it was "essentially the creation of the United States." (Zinn 472) Additionally, the entire war itself was a creation of the United States as the CIA faked the Gulf of Tonkin incident and lied to the American people to begin the war. And when American soldiers were involved in atrocities, most textbooks never mention that fact, but Zinn not only opened the massacre to the light of history, but also informed the readers that almost every American "unit of brigade size has its My Lai hidden someplace." (Zinn 479)