What was of special interest in this chapter was the use of textbooks in schools, specifically during segregation. Many history books of the time failed to fully depict the struggle of the African American community or diminished the importance of certain African American figures throughout history. Some textbooks were written solely geared towards the African American community while others for the white population. Not only that but the pictures within these textbooks excluded black characters and if included, the pictures were vague and left it to the readers “imagination” to decide what was the character’s race. Eventually, publishing companies such as McGraw-Hill and Houghton Miflin were pushed to incorporate photographs of African American children and fully depicting African American involvement in history.
In our discussion from last class regarding media and its influence on children, books were vaguely mentioned as also having a strong contribution in shaping education. It is quite clear from the reading that books can be used ineffectively when imparting information. Historians, publishers and artists portray their own perspectives in books that many children and adolescents absorb throughout their studies. The questions is, are they fully reliable and whose responsibility is it to regulate the content? Another problem that arises when discussing the content of textbooks is the depiction of American history versus World history. As discussed in class, there is a certain bias when books report US and foreign conflicts. The U.S. always made the right decision, always victorious. From personal experience, many textbooks give a false impression of reality and many students attain this false impression and information. Although we can’t escape political or religious inclinations concealed in a historians writing or our personal opinions, textbook publishing companies should strive to remain neutral and objective when describing certain events.
