Many folks are claiming TX Republicans are "removing" teaching requirements about the civil rights movement & its leaders from TX curriculum standards w/ #SB3.
This is not true. But it contains just enough truth to make for powerful political fodder.🧵/1 news.bloomberglaw.com/social-justice…
True: the version of the #SB3 bill that the TX Senate just passed (w/o Democrat support) did in fact remove a *bunch* of specific people & events from the bill, including stuff on civil rights, women's suffrage, slavery, labor, & more. capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/871/bi… /2
Also true: the current version of the bill also removed mentions of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abigail Adams, the American GI Forum, the 19th Amendment, and *much more.* Why remove all of this? /3
Well, I find myself reluctantly agreeing with Sen. Hughes' explanation. B/c specific requirements aren't typically dealt with by statute, but in the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills standards (TEKS), developed by the State Board of Education. tea.texas.gov/academics/curr… /4
And what civil rights history do we find in the TEKS? *A lot.* High school US history should teach a multiethnic array of civil rights organizations; King, Chavez, Parks, Garcia, Friedan; the Black Panthers; Letter from a Birmingham Jail; the VRA; more. tea.texas.gov/sites/default/…
I have *no* love for what TX Republicans are doing w/ #CRT & this education bill. It's opportunist & anti-education.
But if we claim, "They're removing civil rights history!" we are crying wolf. They are not. But if they do someday, people may not believe us when we say so. /fin

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Brian Franklin

Brian Franklin Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @brfranklin4

16 Jul
Love @SpencerWMcBride's thread here on practical steps *individuals* can take at conferences like @SHEARites to help people feel welcome (even as we advocate for structural changes). Thought I might add a few ideas to the list. #SHEAR2021 /1
Resolve to meet one new person each day of the conference. Maybe that person is a brand new MA student. Maybe they're a long-established scholar. Regardless, everyone needs to feel like they're connected. /2
Invite someone when you are planning to go out for a meal. We all have those moments when we're standing around trying to figure out lunch. Just look around. You'll see someone alone, guaranteed. Unless the meal is *personal,* there's rarely reason not to include more. /3
Read 6 tweets
8 Jun
Historians are dunking on the Project 1836 Law signed by @GregAbbott_TX & fairly so. It's pure culture-wars inflaming rhetoric, a response to a virtually non-existent threat of Critical Race Theory. But if we only trash it, we're missing the good news of *opportunity.* A thread/1
We're historians. We specialize in reading & interpreting primary documents. The Project 1836 law promotes "patriotic education" in "Texas values" through "knowledge of the founding documents" of TX History." This is *opportunity* to read w/ students! /2 capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/bi…
We *get* to read the TX Dec. of Ind. w/ our students. We get to discuss the Mexican constitution & colonization laws: how Santa Anna suspended the constitution AND how Anglos consistently broke/bent Mexican laws, esp. Mexico's abolition of slavery. /3 tsl.texas.gov/treasures/repu…
Read 14 tweets
1 Mar 19
I was reminded today of how important it is to teach "basics." I devoted today's #TexasHistory class @SMU to 2 documents that explain why southern secessionists formed the Confederacy in 1861: the Texas Declaration of Causes & Alexander Stephens' Corner Stone speech. Basics. /1
The TX Declaration of Causes is short & clear. The "federal government" & "non-slaveholding states" had committed many offenses. The most severe one: their "hostility to these Southern States & their beneficent & patriarchal system of African slavery." loc.gov/item/95139713/ /2
The "Corner Stone" speech, by Alexander Stephens (VP Confederacy) shocks me every time. He claims that the "leading statesmen" who wrote the Constitution believed slavery was a "violation of nature." "They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error."/3
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(