American History

had almost more pictures than writing. They seemed mostly the view from the victors: westward expansionists, religious zealots, and capitalists. This was the sixties, so we spent a LOT of time on current events (that are now 'history') such as the Civil Rights movement, Antiwar movement, etc.

One teacher DID suggest that if we wanted "other perspectives", we should read books such as Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, Ellison's Invisible Man, Terkel's Hard Times, The Feminine Mystique, Melman's The Permanent War Economy, etc etc.

(My parents, both WWll vets, were very much into history. They had a huge wall of books in one room that I'd sit near and peruse. My first and favorite book I poked around in was The Outline of History by H.G. Wells.

So, I guess high school history classes were okay, but I often felt like Hermione Granger, always with my hand up, waving, ignored.

Thank you for being a teacher.