Arizona to Ban Ethnic Studies Classes: Keeping History and Literature White

History has often said to be the story of the victors. Who are the victors in U.S. society? Well, it has traditionally been the White European population. Because of this, many modern historians and educators have found it very important to really focus on the histories of ethnic minorities and oppressed people. I know in my own U.S. History classes it is easy to focus solely on the large leaders and victors and not focus on the lower classes, oppressed, and ethnic minorities.

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The Problem With Glorifying the Past: When Our Memory is Skewed

Don’t you just wish you could go back to the days of the Founding Fathers? Hmm…well, I guess if you are a white Protestant male landowner. It wouldn’t be so nice if you were African-American, a woman, a religious minority, or poor. While I think the Founding Fathers were brilliant men and really set up a very good system of government, let’s not deify them.

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Turning Good Into Evil: Lincoln and Slavery and Obama and Health Care

Right now, I am teaching my U.S. History students about the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, when Lincoln freed all the Confederate slaves. While I was teaching this, I came across a very strange cartoon-which is very relevant to today. In the cartoon, Lincoln is seen stepping on the Constitution and being influenced by [...]

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Moving On From the Past to Embrace the Future

Last week the newly elected Republican Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, made a declaration to celebrate Confederate History Month in his state. This doesn’t greatly surprise me. I was born in South Carolina. However, it seems like we could have evolved beyond this by the year 2010. Since I am a history teacher, I know [...]

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If Dr. King Were Here Today (He Would Be Hated Much More Than Obama)

Many people like to say that Martin Luther King was one of their heroes. However, I think many people forget what he really stood for. Ironically, Glenn Beck the other day talked about the greatness of Martin Luther King. Really?? If he was alive today, he would be attacked as a socialist, “evil” progressive, and [...]

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-Invictus: An Amazing Story and an Even More Important Message for Today

Recently, the amazing retelling story of Nelson Mandela’s rise to power and struggle to bring his nation together was made into a wonderful film. Essentially, the story tells about the great divide and tension in the country of South Africa between the native Africans and the European immigrants who had ruled the land by oppression [...]

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-Why the U.S. Losing Influence in Latin America is a Positive Change

This past week, national leaders from around Latin America and the Caribbean descended on the country of Mexico in the hopes of forming a new alliance. However, Canada and the United States were not invited to the conference. This is a large step away from the traditional international politics of Latin America, where the U.S. [...]

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Obama Has It Backwards: We Need to Reduce Military Spending

“A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending [...]

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My First Quaker Experience: Preserving the Essence of the Christian Faith

I went to a small town about 4 ½ hours away this past weekend called Monteverde. It was started by a group of American Quakers who fled from the United States in the 1950’s to escape persecution for their pacifist views. Raquel and I decided to go to their small meeting, and we experienced a [...]

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-The Sad Case of Michael Steele

Lately, it seems that Michael Steele has been saying things that have upset and frustrated much of the Republican Party. His comments have actually been embarrassing for much of his base. However, given the manner in which he was chosen, it is not too surprising. Essentially, Steele was chosen as the head of the Republican [...]

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-A Man Who Helped Change Our View of History: Howard Zinn

This week, one of the great progressive thinkers, writers, and historians passed away-Howard Zinn. What he did for the progressive movement throughout his 87 years of life was incredible, and what he did for History was monumental. Few individuals are willing to challenge and look at the way we view history and our society. People [...]

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-My Other Favorite Podcasts (History, Current Events, Psychology)

If you have interest in any of these areas, I have found these to be some of the best podcasts out here which really are entertaining, but also tend to be quite thought provoking and educational. If you teach, these can also be very helpful. I have been able to gain a better grasp on [...]

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-What 16th Century Anabaptists/Mennonites Can Teach Us in the 21st Century (Peacemaking and Separation of Church and State)

It is somewhat shocking to know that Evangelicals are one of the groups most likely to support U.S. military action. It would have been ironic for the early Anabaptists to think that it is the secular world who needed to lead the way in peacemaking rather than the church. Anabaptists should also help reinforce the beauty of the separation of church and state. It was only a couple of hundred years ago when we did not have this privilege and your freedom and often your life depended on you following the teachings of a particular church.

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-Historical Misconceptions: U.S. Slavery Was Simply An Expansion of African Slavery- November 5, 2009

Growing up in the South, I heard many explanations for the slavery which had been practiced. Perhaps, it was not necessarily to justify it, but to somehow still take pride in the southern history and lessen the stigmatization. The popular example that was always brought up was that slavery was simply an expansion of slavery [...]

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When Biblical Interpretations Change in Light of Scientific and Historical Evidence: Evolution and the Anti-Christ- October 29, 2009

Sometimes, we try to hold onto a belief so tightly that we stick our fingers in our ears and close our eyes to any evidence that would make us re-examine our beliefs. Obviously, the historical and scientific evidence is wrong, because our interpretations and beliefs are true. However, I think there is a danger in this and we do this to our own disadvantage.

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Why Belief is Not Enough: Where the Reformation Fell Short- October 22, 2009

While the Protestant church has come away from the works based system, I fear they may have replaced with something equally as weakening, a solely belief based system. What you believe has become the basis of your good graces with God. Many people have never really experienced God, but they have the right beliefs about him and so they assume it is what they need.The mental is not sufficient. Who cares what you believe, if it does not affect you in your actual being?

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Puritans and the Importance of Joy- October 7, 2009

Currently with my history students, we are studying about the Puritan laws. Some of the laws are quite outrageous. You would expect some of the laws regarding the sexual behavior and observing the Sabbath in a Theocracy. However, the Puritans took it a step further and outlawed things and entertainment that would give simple enjoyment [...]

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When Other Faiths Stand on the Side of Justice and Christians Do Not- September 16, 2009

There has been a lot of discussion lately about us being a Christian nation. However, while going over Columbus and the early settlers with my students, I begin to wonder if that would really make us any more moral. We are currently studying about the atrocities committed under the “Christian” nation of Spain in the [...]

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What Religious Oppression Can Teach the Chrisian World- June 23, 2009

We see the pictures from Iran, and we are outraged by the religious oppression. We tend to think that they are of another world or something which we could never become. However,we need to take a step back and look at our own history. we can see a dark side revealed and see the danger [...]

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Why Obama Was Right: We Are Not a Christian Nation nor Should We Strive for That Title- April 19, 2009

The bigger issue is not whether the U.S. wants to be a Christian nation, it is whether Jesus wants us to be a “Christian” nation. I would have to conclude the answer is no. Jesus had the chance to gain political control and power. In fact, that is why so many people followed him and then later deserted him when he refused to take that power. That was not the type of kingdom and power he was seeking. Rather, he was looking to build a kingdom through people on earth regardless of nationality.

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The Importance of Knowing History (Revelations, Misunderstanding, and World Peace)- April 7, 2009

Since I studied to become a History teacher, I was always taught the importance of knowing history. Not only does this knowledge affect the way you view the world now, but ultimately it will change your future. A very good example of this can be seen in the way some religious people in the U.S. [...]

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Why the Rapture Mentality Has Helped Justify Poor U.S. Foreign Policy- February 3, 2009

There are some religious theories which help justify a country in doing certain actions. For example, the divine right of kings was heavily endorsed by numerous monarchs in order to justify ruling with an iron fist. Some middle-eastern countries today use religious extremism to justify the oppression of individual liberties and rights. In the U.S., [...]

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O Holy Night (A Call for Social Change)- December 16,2007

Tonight, I was teaching my ESL lesson to the members of the Hispanic community here in Greenville. We were going over the song O Holy Night, and when I was teaching them the song I realized once again just how powerful a song it was. The man who wrote the song O Holy Night was [...]

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Signs- September 22, 2007

A couple of weeks ago I had a debate in my global studies class about Creation and Evolution. And some of the students, especially one’s from the more conservative side about it were very adamant. It ended up about a lot of the students believed in theistic evolution and a lot of them believed in [...]

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Boycotts and Satisfaction- September 18, 2007

Today in class we talked about boycotting in class. We were taking about how the Colonist during the days of the American revolution were willing to go without sugar and tea in order to avoid paying a tax to the British. Though that might seem like a trivial reason to boycott, I think it reveals [...]

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Seeing the Good in the Present World- August 30,2006

Hey…well I’m getting down into my classes now. So, I was reading this book ( Lies my Teacher Told Me) for one of my history classes. I know it sounds like kind of a weird title, but it’s a really good book. It talks about how we get a warped view of history sometimes from [...]

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