Telling the Truth About History

“Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this…?” W.E.B. Du Bois writing in 1935.

“We will stop the radical indoctrination of our students and restore patriotic education to our schools. We will teach our children to love our country, honor our history, and always respect our great American flag…We must clear away the twisted web of lies in our schools and our classrooms, and teach our children the magnificent truth about our country.” Trump speaking at a campaign rally in 2020.

When I recently read the quote from W.E.B. Du Bois. I was struck by how applicable his statement is to our current situation. From 91 years in the past Professor Du Bois speaks truth to power and the need for “telling the truth” about our history. The contrast with Trump’s call for a distorted, cherry-picked, sanitized “patriotic education” is stark.

The quote is from Du Bois’s 1935 book “Black Reconstruction in America” and specifically the chapter entitled “The Propaganda of History.” Pulitzer Prize winning Historian Jon Meacham included an excerpt of that chapter in his 2026 anthology “American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union.” The anthology contains writings and speeches that show our history has been a continuous struggle “between visions of liberty and of slavery, of principle and of power, of right and of wrong.”

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) was a Black American educator, sociologist, writer, historian, and civil rights activist. He was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

Here are the most relevant of Du Bois’ statements on teaching history from Jon Meacham’s summary.

“…the facts of American history have in the last half century been falsified because the nation was ashamed. The South was ashamed because it fought to perpetuate human slavery. The North was ashamed because it had to call in the black men to save the Union, abolish slavery and establish democracy.

What are American children taught today about Reconstruction?…American youth…today would learn from current textbooks of history that the Constitution recognized slavery; that the chance of getting rid of slavery by peaceful methods was ruined by the Abolitionists…and that Negroes were the only people to achieve emancipation with no effort on their part. That Reconstruction was a disgraceful attempt to subject white people to ignorant Negro rule…

In other words, [a student] would…complete his [or her] education without any idea of the part which the black race has played in America; of the tremendous moral problem of abolition; of the cause and meaning of the Civil War and the relation which Reconstruction had to democratic government …

War and especially civil strife leave terrible wounds. It is the duty of humanity to heal them. It was therefore soon conceived as neither wise nor patriotic to speak of all the causes of strife and the terrible results to which national differences in the United States had led. And so, first of all, we minimized the slavery controversy which convulsed the nation…

But are these reasons of courtesy and philanthropy sufficient for denying Truth? If history is going to be scientific, if the record of human action is going to be set down with the accuracy and faithfulness of detail which will allow its use as a measuring rod and guidepost for the future of nations, there must be set some standards of ethics in research and interpretation.

If, on the other hand, we are going to use history for our pleasure and amusement, for inflating our national ego, and giving us a false but pleasurable sense of accomplishment, then we must give up the idea of history as a science…and admit frankly that we are using a version of historic fact in order to influence and educate the new generation along the way we wish.

It is propaganda like this that has led men in the past to insist that history is “lies agreed upon”; and to point out the danger in such misinformation. It is indeed extremely doubtful if any permanent benefit comes to the world through such action. Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this, so far as the truth is ascertainable?” End quote.

Since 1935 we have moved toward teaching a more accurate, inclusive “version or history.” But I would suggest many students still leave school “without any idea of the part which the black race has played in America,” or other minorities, women, Native Americans or dissidents. We continue to believe it is not “patriotic to speak of all the causes of strife and the terrible results” of our differences. So attacks on how our children are being taught is another ongoing controversy in our society.

Controlling education, distorting history, and promoting “patriotic education” are common tactics of authoritarian regimes. Another tactic is accusing the opposition of what your are doing. Thus we have Trump’s executive orders on education; “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” and “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling”. The former states, “Over the past decade, Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”

But the Organization of American Historians says Trump, “proposes to rewrite history to reflect a glorified narrative that downplays or disappears elements of America’s history – slavery, segregation, discrimination, division – while suppressing the voices of historically excluded groups.” They remain “steadfast in our defense of the right to engage with history honestly, even when that history challenges our assumptions and forces us to confront uncomfortable realities.” The OAH, “embraces the complexity and diversity of America’s past that is grounded in the documentary record and that fosters critical thinking, promotes understanding, and ultimately strengthens our nation and our world” (“Statement on Executive Order ‘Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History’”).

As we all know Trump is a proven ignoramus and documented, serial liar. He has on numerous occasions made false and misleading statements about American history. Why do people continue to give credence to the demagoguery of this fool?