Advocates for inclusive histography

The maps illustrate the disproportionate number of historical sites in Anglo and Latino communities in Texas.

The map on the left, courtesy of the Texas Historical Commission Altas, uses orange dots to record each historical registered site. The map on the right, courtesy of the US Census Bureau, shows the predominant racial or ethnic group from 2017 to 2021. Orange shades represent Latino and purple represents white populations.

The lack of public histories in Latino communities is not the result of a low population. The map on the right shows the estimated population by county from 2017 to 2021.

Second, historical places like Blackwell School educate the public about systematically disregarded perspectives from the American historical narrative. Focusing on the history of Latino communities is crucial to incorporating POC experiences into American history discourse.

Last, the recent legislation has expedited the decline of the American public school system. The 2022-2023 school year accumulated 1,477 titles banned from public school libraries across America. Of all 51 states, Texas was among the top five with the most banned titles. Across all instances, 30% of books are about race, racism, or feature characters of color. The increasing restriction on public schools throughout Texas makes public history more important than ever. To learn more about increasing restrictions on public education in America, visit the PEN website linked below.

The Blackwell Alliance worked in collaboration with a professional course curriculum builder to create a lesson plan for MISD that included the history of Blackwell in connection to discrimination and racism Mexican Americans faced in Texas and it was rejected. If students are prevented from learning about histories like the Blackwell School and Mexican Americans in Texas in public schools, where are they to learn it? Latino-centered public history like the Blackwell School is imperative to providing a more authentic, diverse historiography of Texas.

PEN website: https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/.