Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

E Pluribus Unum

Elementary School Narratives and the Making of National Identity

  • Chapter
The New Politics of the Textbook

Part of the book series: Constructing Knowledge ((CKCS,volume 1))

Abstract

In March of 2010, the Texas Board of Education approved a social studies curriculum that emphasized the primacy of capitalism and conservatism, minimizing the contributions of African American, Latinos, and other ethnic minorities in American history textbooks. Conservatives on the Board claimed that the curriculum had gone too far left and wanted to include language about the violent intentions of the Black Panther Organization to balance out Martin Luther King Jr.’s pacifist approach” (McKinley, 2010). We introduce this chapter with the Texas controversy to illustrate the often-unacknowledged relationships between political ideologies and the construction of perceived historical facts and events in textbooks and public school curricula.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Aldridge D (2006) The limits of master narratives in history textbooks: An analysis of representations of Martin Luther King, Jr. Teachers College Record 108(4):662–686

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Haj M (2005) National ethos, multicultural education, and the new history textbooks in Israel. Curriculum Inquiry 35(1):47–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson B (1983) Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple M, Oliver A (1996) Becoming right: Education and the formation of the conservative movements? Teachers College Record 97(3):419–445

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple, M.W. (1992). The text and cultural politics. Educational Researcher, 21(7), 4-11+19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axtell J (1987) Europeans, Indians, and the age of discovery in American history textbooks. The American Historical Review 92(3):621–632

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banks JA (2009) Multicultural education: Characteristics and goals. In: Banks JA, McGee Banks CA (eds) Multicultural Education: Issues and perspectives, 7th edn. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, pp 3–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Banks JA (1988) Approaches to multicultural curricular reform. Multicultural Leader 1(2):1–3

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown AL, Brown KD (2010) Strange fruit indeed: Interrogating contemporary textbook representations of racial violence toward African Americans. Teachers College Record 112(1):31–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins J, Sayers D (1996) Multicultural education and technology: Promise and pitfalls. Multicultural Education 3(3):4–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Du Boise WEB (1927) Mencken Crisis 34:276

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, S. (2006). Whose history?: Portrayal of immigrant groups in U.S. history textbooks, 1800-present. In S. J. Foster & K. A. Crawford (Eds.), What shall we tell the children?: International perspectives on school history textbooks (pp. 155-178). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox D, Short K (2003) Stories matter: The complexity of cultural authenticity in children’s literature. National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris VJ (1990) African American children’s literature: The first one hundred years. Journal of Negro Education 59(4):540–554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess D (2005) Moving beyond celebration: Challenging curricular orthodoxy in the teaching of Brown and its legacies. Teachers College Record 107(9):2046–2067

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladson-Billings G (1996) “Your blues ain’t like mine”: Keeping issues of race and racism on the multicultural agenda. Theory into Practice 35(4):248–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magnuson E (1997) Ideology conflict in American political culture: The discourse of civil society and American national narratives in American history books. The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 17(6):84–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy C (1988) Rethinking liberal and radical perspectives on racial inequality in schooling: Making the case of nonsynchrony. Harvard Educational Review 58(3):265–79

    Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch G (2004) Documentary research: In education, history and the social sciences. Routledge, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • McKinley, J. C. (2010, March 12). Texas conservatives win curriculum change. New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html

  • McLaren P (1995) White terror and oppositional agency: Toward a critical multi-culturalism. In: Sleeter C, McLaren P (eds) Multicultural education, critical pedagogy, and the politics of difference. State University of New York Press, New York, NY, pp 33–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Moreau J (2008) Schoolbook nation: Conflicts over American history textbooks from the civil war to the present. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI

    Google Scholar 

  • Olneck MR (2001) Re-naming, re-imagining America: Multicultural curriculum as classification struggle. Pedagogy, Culture, and Society 9(3):333–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olneck MR (1990) The recurring dream: Symbolism and ideology in intercultural and multicultural education. American Journal of Education 98(2):147–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prior L (2003) Using documents in social research. Sage, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Ravitch D (2000) Multiculturalism: E pluribus plures. In: Steinberg S (ed) Race and ethnicity in the United States: Issues and debates. Blackwell Publishers, Inc., Malden, MA, pp 267–293

    Google Scholar 

  • Tetreault MKT (1986) Integrating women’s history: The case of United States history high school textbooks. The History Teacher 19(2):211–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams R (1989) Hegemony and the selective tradition. In: de Castell S, Luke A, Luke C (eds) Language, authority and criticism: Readings on the school textbook. Falmer Press, Philadelphia, PA, pp 56–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams R (1977) Marxism and literature. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Adler DA (2000a) A picture book of Jesse Owens. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 6. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 76–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Adler DA (2000b) A picture book of Martin Luther King, Jr. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 2. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 136–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Altman S (2000) Phillis Wheatley: Poet. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 4. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 542–546

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown MM (2000) The story of Susan La Flesche Picotte from Homeward the arrow’s flight. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 4. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 282–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Charles, R., & Ritz, D. (2000). Ray and Mr. Pit from Brother Ray: Ray Charles’ Own Story. In C. Bereiter, M. J. Adams, M. Scardamalia, R. Case, A. McKeough, & M. Pressley (Eds.), Open court reading, book 6 (pp. 408-412). Columbus, OH: SRA/McGraw Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferris J (2000) Arctic explorer: The story of Matthew Henson. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 4. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 330–348

    Google Scholar 

  • Fradin DB (2000) Pocahontas from The Virginia colony. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 4. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 524–538

    Google Scholar 

  • Freedman FB (2000) Two tickets to freedom from Two Tickets to Freedom: The true story of Ellen and William Craft, fugitive slaves. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 4. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 94–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Golenbock P (2000) Teammates. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 3. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 108–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenness A, Rivers A (2000) In two worlds: A Yup’ik Eskimo family. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 5. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 245–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinkney AD (2000) Bill Picket: Rodeo-ridin’ cowboy. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 5. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 526–546

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakurai G (2000) Mae Jemison: Space scientist. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 4. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 76–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaughnessy D, Carpenter J (2000) Sequoyah: Inventor of the Cherokee written language. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 2. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 90–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Skold BW (2000) Sacagawea’s journey from Sacagawea. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 5. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 588–600

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson G (2000) Immigrants: Coming to America from You Are There: Immigrants Coming to America. In: Bereiter C, Adams MJ, Scardamalia M, Case R, McKeough A, Pressley M (eds) Open court reading, book 2. SRA/McGraw Hill, Columbus, OH, pp 208–236

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Mary Christianakis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Richard Mora
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lewis University, Romeoville, IL, USA

    Heather Hickman

  2. Lewis University, Romeoville, IL, USA

    Brad J. Porfilio

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Sense Publishers

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Christianakis, M., Mora, R. (2012). E Pluribus Unum. In: Hickman, H., Porfilio, B.J. (eds) The New Politics of the Textbook. Constructing Knowledge, vol 1. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6091-912-1_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Societies and partnerships

Search

Navigation