REVISIONIST HISTORY: MANIPULATION IN MEDIA AND EDUCATION

Diego Carlos

History 101: United States History to 1877

December, 3 2017
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The constant revision of history is ever-present as long as humanity continues to study

history. In Texas, the issue over the presentation of slavery in public school history textbooks

rages on as the country as a whole continues to grapple with its less glamorous parts, namely

slavery. Though How Texas Teaches History by Ellen Rockmore addresses the issue over how

slavery is being whitewashed, the lack of a counter-argument by bringing the voices of those

who suffer under and/or fought against the reality of slavery weakens it.

Ellen Rockemore points out that publishers are at times daring with the manipulation of

facts as shown by a curious line that a high school student found in his geography textbook. The

publisher McGraw-Hill Education as noted by Ellen Rockmore show that they are willing to use

less charged language: a description of the Atlantic slave trade as bringing millions of workers

to plantations in the American South.1 It is important to note that the use of the word workers

to describe those that worked in the south spits on the legacy of a great number of people that

fought against the brutal system of slavery. In the face of such clear-cut manipulation, publishers

are more willing to make swift corrections.

When the manipulation is more subtle, changes are not as swift. The writer makes use of

quoting passages from Texas textbooks that make use of the passive voice to intentionally

obfuscate the brutality of slave holders: However, severe treatment was very common.

Whippings, brandings, and even worse torture were all a part of American slavery.2 In the

1. Rockmore, Ellen B. "How Texas Teaches History." New York Times, Oct 21, 2015. https://0-

search-proquest-com.ecclib.elcamino.edu/docview/1724242631?accountid=10709.

2. Ibid.
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passage, the writer points out that the slave owners are nowhere to be found in the sentence. A

more honest approach to the reality of the situation would be to rewrite the sentence into the

active voice where the slave holders role in perpetuating the brutality of slavery is the main

cause. A case for requesting the publishers to rewrite the line is harder to come by.

Though the writer makes a strong point about how publishers in conservative states like

Texas tell unsavory parts of history by making use of grammatical manipulation, the lack of the

voices of slaves during that period of US history within textbooks offers a much stronger case for

the whitewashing of history. On the Voices of Freedom textbook, passages such as Frederick

Douglas on the Desire for Freedom (1845) offer a holistic view thats missing from the Texas

textbooks. The former slave Frederick Douglas writes: The silver trump of freedom had roused

my soul to eternal wakefulness It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched

condition I found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for

the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something

for which I should have been killed.3 The passage shows the cruel power that slavery has over

the lives of people. Frederick Douglas in tasting freedom and learning of his wretched status as a

former slave is tormented with thoughts of his death because that is the risk that slaves have to

take in order to attain their freedom. Being ignorant of the writings of people such as Frederick

Douglas is what allows for the perpetuation of the revision of history to happen in parts of the

3. Foner, Eric. Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co,

2016), 209
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educational system. There is a lack of accountability in making sure that voices like Douglas are

heard.

On the other side of the coin, the voices of slave owners who perpetuate the system of

slavery themselves are not heard. Bennet Barrow in Rules of Highland Plantation (1838)

writes: I have ever maintained the doctrine that my Negroes have no time whatever that they are

always liable to my call without questioning for a moment the propriety, of it am I not entitled

to an exclusive right in his time?4 In the writing, Bennet Barrow a slave holder in the south

strips slaves of their time, thoroughly dehumanizing them. He treats slaves like machinery that

are to be used for profit until they break. Certain accounts from slave holders that hold inhuman

views are also missing from textbooks.

The addition of the voices of the assailed within textbooks, the voices of the assailants,

and more holistic reports by journalists who make use of connections from the past as they relate

to the present combats the whitewashing of history. Cases such as clear-cut manipulations by

publisher McGraw-Hill Education show that publishers word is not final. The revision of history

is a constant force, but it can be a positive force that seeks the truth rather than obfuscate as more

of the past comes to light. Students of history are historys stewards themselves.

4. Ibid., 215-16
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Bibliography

Foner, Eric. Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2016.

Rockmore, Ellen B. "How Texas Teaches History." New York Times, Oct 21, 2015. https://0-

search-proquest-com.ecclib.elcamino.edu/docview/1724242631?accountid=10709.