Who Writes History?

Who writes history?  Who creates the narrative?  Who and what are valued? How does the story get passed down? Does anyone check for context or accuracy?

When I began teaching, it was many moons ago before we depended on the internet for information…before we carried a tiny computer in our hand…before we had access and an expectation to seek out other points of reference.  It was a time when teachers were the gatekeepers of information.  I am ashamed to admit that history was passed down through me to young minds by rote.  I was young and simply repeated what had been repeated to me by veteran teachers who passed the narrative down.  History they say is written by the victors.  Many moons ago, I participated in this passing of information without context or critical analytical thinking.

As I moved through my adulthood, other influences found their way into my practice.  I began to understand that it is necessary to actively seek out alternative resources outside of the mainstream and expand one’s understanding of the world.  I found a group of educators interested in Critical Pedagogy and discovered resources like Rethinking Schools.

https://rethinkingschools.org/

https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/rethinking-the-american-revolution/

Eventually, I met Bill Bigelow at a Progressive Educators Network conference.  I was honored to find myself running in the same circles. And as circumstance would have it, apparently Bill had been a teacher at my high school in Portland, long after I had graduated.

From the Rethinking Schools website:

"Bill Bigelow

CURRICULUM EDITOR

Bill Bigelow taught high school social studies for many years. He is curriculum editor

of Rethinking Schools magazine and author or co-editor of several Rethinking Schools books: A

People’s History for the Classroom, The Line Between Us: Teaching About the Border and

Mexican Immigration, Rethinking Columbus, Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an

Unjust World, Rethinking Our Classrooms – Volumes 1 and 2, and A People’s Curriculum for the

Earth: Teaching Climate Change and the Environmental Crisis. Most recently, he co-edited the

Rethinking Schools book, Teaching Palestine: Lessons, Stories, Voices. He co-directs the Zinn

Education Project on behalf of Rethinking Schools. Bigelow lives in Portland, Oregon, with his

wife, Linda Christensen."

                                                   Photo taken at the Barnes and Noble in Manhattan Beach, CA

Way led on to way, and I found myself introduced to A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn.  A must read for every teacher and kidlit author, for that matter. As a follow-up to Howard Zinn’s writing, please check out The Zinn Education Project.

https://www.zinnedproject.org/

https://www.zinnedproject.org/why/

Another amazing organization that has been around for decades is Teaching for Change. 

https://www.teachingforchange.org/

https://www.teachingforchange.org/talking-to-young-children-about-america-

From the Teaching For Change website

"Deborah Menkart, Executive Director

Raised in D.C., Deborah’s activism began in junior high school when she protested D.C.’s “taxation without representation” and the “dresses-only” dress code for girls. The dress code changed, but D.C.’s colonial status continues. Her perspective on the world was shaped by being the first born in the U.S. of European immigrants on both sides of her family and being raised by a single mother who worked as a dressmaker. During the 1970s Deborah lived in San Diego, California, where she worked as a shipyard electrician and was active in the antiwar, women’s, international solidarity, and labor movements. Through all of these experiences she decided that for any social justice movement in the U.S. to succeed, a change in pre-K—12 education is essential. Since 1989 she has been pursuing that goal in her work at Teaching for Change."

Once activated, I became aware of this organization in the earlier days of teaching and my practice was forever changed. Years later, found myself sitting next to Deborah Menkart at my table at the CABA book awards when my book, Egyptian Lullaby received the award in 2024 from Howard University.  I was thrilled to meet her in person and couldn’t believe she had chosen to sit at my table.  Make sure you take advantage of their booklist! (where you'll also find my book, Egyptian Lullaby.)

https://www.socialjusticebooks.org/

These people and resources were instrumental in broadening my horizons and expanding my understanding of history and its many points of entry.

In addition to finding resources and developing a much more expansive knowledge base as a teacher (and eventually as a children’s book author), I began to discover the United States history in context with the other countries in our world through traveling. 

One memory that sticks out is of a bookstore owner in Chiapas Mexico.  I believe he was an expat.  For no apparent reason, he randomly gave me the last book, Century of the Wind from the trilogy Memory of Fire by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano.  What a treasure. These three books are of course written originally in Spanish.  The English translation is gorgeous so I can only imagine the original text.  Galeano tells the story of the Americas through short lyrical prose.  He creates short vignettes to take the reader through a history that acknowledges the imperialism of the US and the effect it has on the surrounding countries. Galeano provides windows into what was occurring in the different countries simultaneously throughout a timeline.  It is like drinking a fine wine.  The writing is exquisite.  It is an amazing history lesson as well as a beautifully crafted journey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Galeano

On a different trip, a young person in Cuba ran up to me and put a miniature book in the palm of my hand.  It was Fidel Castro’s History Will Absolve Me. No matter your politics or beliefs, I believe it is crucial to read to expand your understanding...to extend the possibilities...to see your world with fewer limitations and in a broader context.

It’s never too late.

Just recently, I was traveling in South America.  Someone asked me where I was from.  I know better, but for some reason I said, “America.”  The minute the word came out of my mouth, I knew it felt wrong.  And it was.  The Columbian intellectual in front of me was quick to correct my error.  “You are part of America but you are not America.  We are all American.”  Duly noted.  

It’s never too late to examine the narrative we’ve been handed and adjust it, instead of just passing it to our youth thoughtlessly, both as teachers and authors. History after all, is a living entity, growing, transforming, and everchanging. It belongs to all of us, not just the victors.

By Zeena M. Pliska

Author of 

Hello, Little One: A Monarch Butterfly Story (Page Street Kids)

Egyptian Lullaby (Roaring Brook Press - Macmillan)

Chicken Soup for the Soul for Babies Say Thank You? (But Why?)  (Charlesbridge)

Chicken Soup for the Soul for Babies A Gift For Me? (I Want It!)   (Charlesbridge)

The Making of History

As Teaching Authors end our year exploring our favorite books, I am focusing on historical fiction, and on the making of history. History often carries the stigma of being dry and irrelevant, says Y.S. Lee (The Agency 1: Spy in the House, 2010), but “the freedom of fiction is one way of exploring a subject that may seem intimating or remote. After all, it’s a kind of fantasy, a parallel world in which people act with recognizable human impulses and ideals but abide by very different rules.”

The genre of historical fiction is very broad, one that Mary Burns (1995) labels a “hybrid and a shape-shifter,” combining history with fiction.  Or, as Trevor Cairney (2009) suggests, historical fiction is where “literature meets history.” Avi, an award-winning master of the genre, offers that some historical fiction stays close to the known facts, while others are little more than costume drama. “Ultimately, what is most important is the story, and the characters.” Facts, according to Avi, do not make a story. “Believable people do…Truth may be stranger than fiction, but fiction makes truth less a stranger.”

Remember that historical fiction is the coming together of two opposing elements: fact and fiction. History tends to be written by those who survived it. The meaning of history, just as it is for the novel, lays “not in the chain of events themselves, but on the historian’s [and writer’s] interpretation of it,” as Jill Paton Walsh once noted.

I’m often asked how I go about researching my own historical fiction. Because I tend to write stories of forgotten heroes, even as I reveal familiar events, in new, unexpected ways my initial research focuses on titles that explore this other side of history, allowing me to experience those perspectives that were not allowed their own stories. History is more than dates. History is people, too. In the best of historical fiction, as with any story, a child becomes a hero who gains power over their situation, a theme that contemporary readers appreciate. 

Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, written by herself (first published in 1861 by Thayer & Eldridge; L. Barsky, ed., The Townsend Library, 2004.) is a heart wrenching autobiography. Jacobs is addressing White Northern women who cannot comprehend the evils of slavery. Her story reveals in excruciating detail her journey from slave girl to free woman, how she navigates the horrors of her life in her fight to preserve her human dignity. Writing her story is Jacobs’ ultimate act of self-assertion.

The Autobiography of Solomon Northup: Twelve Years a Slave (first published in 1853 by Derby & Miller; S. Eakin, Eakin Films & Publishing, 2013.) is another gut punch of a read. Northup is a free man, a skilled carpenter and violinist. Offered a high-paying job as a musician, he traveled to Washington, D.C. Too late he discovered he had been tricked. Drugged and bound, he was sold as a slave, and sent to New Orleans. In her article, The Cultural Significance of Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave , Mollie Lieblich explains:

“Created as propaganda for abolitionism, slave narratives often conformed to reoccurring narrative structures and literary conventions. Authenticity was considered essential. Most pre-emancipation slave narratives include phrases such as “written by himself” or “herself” on title pages, as well as numerous testimonials, prefaces, and letters of endorsement by white abolitionists and supporters. The narratives usually began, “I was born,” identifying a specific birthplace but no date of birth, since slaves often did not have that knowledge. … Slave narratives proved that, despite the odds, many slaves managed to escape their degradation and learned how to read and write. After escaping their bondage and making contacts with abolitionists, they were able to tell their tale to others.”

Ashes: The Seeds of America Trilogy, by Laurie Halse Anderson (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2016) is a modern classic (in my opinion), a thumping good read as noted by the New York Times, that illustrates this process of blending fact and fiction. She weaves these experiences of Jacobs and Northup into a new life in this story of enslaved Isabel as she continues her search for her sister, Ruth (began in Anderson’s award-winning, Chains, another of my favorite reads), and their flight to freedom.

“Historical fiction helps young readers develop a feeling for a living past, illustrating the continuity of life,” says Karen Cushman, another master writer of historical fiction. Reading a blend of history and historical fiction helps me envision how I might bring my own characters to life.

Just a note, Teaching Authors is taking a winter break and our posts will resume on January 19.

Until then, I wish you a historical happy holiday!

--Bobbi Miller