What reading 220 history textbooks taught one scholar about racism

Plus: Ken Burns and Marilyn Monroe |

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By Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Amid a nationwide debate over how much of America's history of racism to teach in schools, one scholar spent the past few years looking back at how U.S. textbooks came to focus on the experiences of white Americans and minimize the history of Black Americans. Harvard University researcher Donald Yacovone read 220 history textbooks, dating from 1832 to the present day for his new book Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity. I talked to him about the main theme he noticed in all of the textbooks and how northern publishing houses became the chief promoters of historical myths about the Confederacy. When asked what takeaway he wanted readers to draw from his research, he said, “The central one would be northern responsibility for the creation of white supremacy. It’s not a southern creation; it’s a white northern creation.” Click here to read the full interview. Here’s more history to know:

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FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1940: Winston Churchill “Winston Churchill is tough. The first important thing he does when he is awakened at 7:15 every morning is light a cigar. The only thing his tongue is afraid of is still that S. His mind requires and retains whole libraries of facts. His spirit loves good food, good drink, pretty and witty women. His body tolerates terrific burdens. He wears out whole squads of secretaries. He talks down platoons of men who have hated and now love him. He is no umbrella-fancier, and he carries a cane not to support his 65-year-old body but to prod, strike and point with.” (Sep. 30, 1940) Read More » This week in 1962: Teddy Kennedy “For the youngest of the nine Kennedy children, the chubby little boy who used to wear bangs, had just scored a stunning political triumph. Seeking the Democratic Senate nomination in Massachusetts, he amassed 69% of the vote, humiliated State Attorney General Edward J. (Eddie) McCormack by a margin of 559,251 to 247,366. At 30, and just three years out of law school, he was one of the hottest political properties outside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” (Sept. 28, 1962) Read More » This week in 1977: Diane Keaton “Call Diane Keaton, the shy, gangly, lost-and-found soul who is Annie in Annie Hall, the funniest woman now working in films…Is it possible, however, that films are beginning to see women through a sharper lens? Or at any rate with a more interesting astigmatism? New women novelists have begun writing about women as creatures who can make noises in the forest, even if no man is there to hear, and whose sexuality, in particular, functions without any by-your-leave from old social presumptions. Now a determined trend spotter can point to a handful of new films whose makers think that women can bear the dramatic weight of a production alone, or virtually so.” (Sept. 26, 1977) Read More »

HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB History repeating itself: In light of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Gillian Brockell and Jodie Tillman, for the Washington Post, detail the history of Black families sent to Cape Cod during the 1960s. Catching up: NPR’s John Burnett and Marisa Penaloza looked up 1960s activists and asked them to compare our present social strife with the unrest of that era. The result: The activists interviewed were “alarmed at the setbacks to hard-earned racial progress.” Environment: For History News Network, journalist Elena Conis uses the history of government inaction in regulating the pesticide DDT to draw parallels to the missed opportunities on climate change. Driver’s ed: The Texas Tribune’s Sneha Dey talked to historians about a pamphlet on Texas history that the state wants to give to new drivers. Viral culture: WBUR’s Scott Tong interviews history influencer Kahlil Greene, who breaks down complex topics for a Gen Z audience on TikTok.

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