Q: Currently most of the curriculum is from the white perspective, white figures, white representation. How would you change this? What are some ideas you have to make our curriculum here more culturally aware? And what will you do to make sure women of color are represented as well?
TP: The question mentions perspective. I think that is where I would start in trying to bring in new information for our students to learn from. I’ll provide two examples. First, Harriet Tubman. While Harriett Tubman could not read nor write, she did have a friend, Sarah Bradford who wrote a book based upon the experiences.
Frederick Douglas would be someone else from that same era as Harriett Tubman who did write about his experiences.
As a first step in the process, I would suggest we start to incorporate the historical writings of these important figures to learn directly from them. There are obviously many more historical figures from various backgrounds that can and should be considered in providing the perspective of historical events.
While maybe not perfect, learning about trials, tribulations, and hardships directly from the people that lived during a period in our country’s history, I think is a good place to start having a better understanding of perspective. At the time, these people may not have fully realized how important they were to history.
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