- It was prohibited for Texans to free their slaves under Article VIII of the Texas Constitution (1845) and its revised form under the Confederate States of America.
- Iconic and memorable Slaveholders in Texas include Stephen F. Austin, William Barret Travis, Jim Bowie, and other Texas legends. Then, David Bowie was a slave trader.
- After Mississippi and Georgia, Texas had the third-highest number of lynching victims in the country: 468.
- In the early twentieth century, Texas Rangers committed various dreadful crimes such as the killing of innocent people who were particularly Mexicans and Mexican Americans in South Texas.
To fully learn about the history of Texas all the hard realities — stated above — including others must be learned or known first.
On the other hand, State Rep. Steve Toth, from R-Woodlands, would prefer his fellow Texans, especially young people, be unaware of the great history that makes up the state, Texas.
HB 3979, a law propounded by Steve Toth, had been enacted during the proceeding of a regular session organized to deter children in Texas schools to feel little or no “discomfort, guilt, etc when it comes to the state history.
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Among dozen of States, Texas has remained the least to restrict the way teachers educate students on racism in recent weeks.
Additionally, Toth wants to protect inoculate these children against academics who are believed to support inculcating Texas ills rather than Texas successes.
Together with his legislative companions, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, Toth pushed to eliminate “critical race theory” from classrooms in Texas.
These lawmakers attempted repeatedly before they could finally appease Gov. Greg Abbott who had the intent to get a third lease of the Governor’s Mansion which is against the choices of the hard-right contenders.
There has been a genuine stillness that the governor withstood Patrick’s persistent request for a fourth special session to capture several uber-partisan right-wing hobby horses just to please the far right’s riding pleasure, plus the request of Donald Trump for 2020 election state-wide audit.
There are rumours that Abbot will be persuaded to summon another special session in other to request Hughes compose an addendum to his SB 3.
This will mandate that “Song of the South,” a Walt Disney movie be watched in Schools in Texas and it will also compel educators or teachers to classify the movie as a documentary.
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In the coming of December, the replacement of Toth’s bill by Hughes’ bill, Senate Bill 3 will take effect.
Nonetheless, the Republicans have employed the Critical race theory and the New York Times’ contentious “1619 Project” as a ploy to explore the disruptive social issues planned in a way to solicit their radical right major voters
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick described the Critical Race theory as “one race is better than another and that someone, by their race or sex, is innately racist, oppressive or sexist,” he has said.
Many have claimed that this is out to protect Texas school children. However, already belittled teachers are already experiencing unrest and consternation.
Recently, An tragic event occurred in the North Texas suburb of Southlake that drew nationwide attention, nonetheless, similar tragic events have been recorded in other states.
On Oct. 8, in Southlake’s Carroll ISD, teachers were informed that if they have materials in their classroom on the holocaust that they should offer students an “opposing perspective,” an administrator for curriculum and instruction prompted.
“Just try to remember the concepts of [House Bill] 3979,” administrator Gina Peddy said to teachers in a recording collected by NBC News.
An apology was later tendered on behalf of Peddy’s remark by the Carroll ISD superintendent.
Meanwhile, Hughes later disclosed that his bill did not mandate teachers to give contrary views of what he termed as matters of “good and evil.”
State Sen. Kelly Hancock, Hughes’ companion, also distinguished that Southlake’s actions are in no way related to the bill.
“Southlake just got it wrong,” he said on Twitter. “No legislation is suggesting the action this administrator is promoting.”
State Sen. Beverly Powell gave a different viewpoint to the matter from another perspective.
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“Already, we are seeing the impact of a vague and unnecessary bill that leaves teachers and administrators confused and afraid to teach the history of the Holocaust or the Civil War without teaching ‘both sides,” the Fort Worth Democrat wrote on twitter.
Currently, teachers, educators, and other teaching officials feel uncomfortable as proposed by the state senator.
A handful number of these teachers are startled about what type of books they should or should not possess in the classroom, more or less when random remarks or misinterpretations occur, they get relieved of their duties.
Texas as a state has itself as part and parcel of race and racism, about fallen warriors or everyday-unjust-freedom, equality and justice.
This, in itself, calls for the rationale for educated people of Texas to know more about its unfortunate history, particularly that’s of Abbott’s antecedents.
Most especially for students learning about history, civics and other social studies, they must know vastly about this history.
They need to be brushed with the crucial knowledge in history and even new ideas by well-experienced teachers.
This, students can go further to debate, argue, and discuss their heroes’ past.
This should is not for the sake of politics but for readily students and teachers.
Annette Gordon-Reed, who may have or not have an affiliation to Toth or Hughes is an active supporter of “our shared history” and how it’s been done. As an African American and a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian at Harvard, who was raised in Conroe, she shared her opinions about her consulted love for Texas in the book called “On Juneteenth,” released this year.
“Love does not require taking an uncritical stance toward the object of one’s affection,” she penned down in the book. “In truth, it often requires the opposite. We can’t be of real service to the hopes we have for places — and people, ourselves included — without a clear-eyed assessment of their (and our) strengths and weaknesses. That often demands a willingness to be critical, sometimes deeply so.”
Take, for instance, sitting in a classroom, in which students explore freely, ask questions undisturbed, and therefore grow immensely.
Now, that should be the type of educations children get to a better chance to partake in.
More so, in a state like Texas “so full of good things and so full of potential” — Gordon-Reed’s words — young people deserve nothing less than this.