The Shift in Minority Group Representation
In the 1950s minority, ethnic groups were not spoken about in the most positive manner. Although, time proved that there was a shift from this negative way of speaking about these minority groups into a positive manner. This occurred over 70 years across various historical events. This shift can be seen throughout the data collected, both in the words written and the pictures used.
It first can be seen when these textbooks speak about Native Americans in regards to Christopher Columbus finding the new world. In the first few textbooks, the word Indian is used very frequently. In textbooks from 1997 and 2000, the word Indian is used over sixty times. After the year 2000, the word’s use began to decline. Following the year 2000 the word Indian was not used in 2005, it was used twenty times in 2010, twelve times in 2012, and nine times in 2014. With that comes an increase in the words Native American and American Indian. Although they are not used as frequently they are still mentioned. The first mention of the word Native American is in a textbook from 1981. The first mention of the word American Indian is in a textbook from 1974. Another example of the way that Native Americans are spoken about negatively is when it is mentioned, “His remains were secretly buried at night in the Mississippi, lest the Indians abuse the body of their abuser” (Bailey 1961:9). This describes Native Americans as savages while they were only trying to protect the land that was taken from them by these new colonizers. In a textbook from 2012, these people were finally given an identity that describes their history and background, the way that they lived off their land (Out of many: A History of the American People 2012). This shows the importance of Native Americans and the role that they played in United States history. The shift is shown through the words and language that were used. This positive shift shows the growth in the Native American identity and how it continues to play an important role in history and should not be erased.
Slavery shows this positive shift differently. The text within the textbooks depicted slaves as being happy by singing and dancing while on the plantation. Though they did not describe the harsh conditions that they endured. In a textbook from 1961, there is a picture that is captioned, “A pro-slavery cartoon published in New York show a chilled and rejected free Negro disconsolately passing a grogshop, while a happy southern slave enjoys plantation life” (Bailey 1961:365). This makes people think that slavery is positive and that benefitted rather than hurt slaves. Another example of slaves receiving proper treatment came from a textbook from 1963, which states slaves were provided great housing with all the necessary resources (Athearn 1963). Throughout time this narrative changed and textbooks began to show the reality of slave life including the one-room houses and the harsh labor and work that they were forced to do. This image from 2012 shows the true conditions that slaves lived and worked in simultaneously. Which focused on the fight against slavery and equal rights of African Americans across the United States. Though for history’s sake the narrative and what was depicted about slavery changed positively, the treatment that they endured was far from positive.
Similarly, events such as the Trail of Tears and Japanese-American internment camps only grew positively. This was done through them not being spoken about at all in textbooks, there was very little information about them in the early textbooks but this changed throughout time and they were brought into the picture. What is similar about these two events was the fact that they were enforced by the United States government. This is something that is rarely spoken about in society. Instead, they negatively portray these groups, this can be seen in a 1961 textbook that refers to Native Americans as ‘varmints’. In addition, it says that “‘the only good indian is a dead indian’” (Bailey 1961:269). This depicts them as the enemy when they were trying to mold the new American culture as best as they could. Another textbook mentions that the Cherokee nation was pushed out of their land since they could not provide proof of residency. They tried to resist the force but it didn’t work and many did not survive the trip that President Jackson sent them on (Tindall 1997). Japanese-Americans were very similar in this regard. They worked hard to fit into American society but that still was not enough. In a 2016 textbook, it is described that Japanese-Americans worked hard to get to America and become well-educated citizens in order to obtain success for themselves and future generations (Kennedy 2016). They did everything that they believed was necessary to be the best citizens of the United States that they could but ultimately that was not enough during WWII. These two groups did everything that they could to ensure themselves a place in society, unfortunately, that was not enough.
Throughout the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans were depicted as violent, when in reality they were fighting for their basic human rights. This positive shift came with more protests and boycotts being spoken about throughout history. The shift occurred when the Civil Rights Movement was first introduced in textbooks in 1973. Many realized the importance of these events and what they did for a large minority racial group in this country. Textbooks such as a textbook from 1997 began highlighting the importance of these events and the people that played a role in them. People such as Jackie Robinson, who was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball, and Rosa Parks who was an influential African American woman who refused to give up her seat in the white-only section of a bus. These images show a number of different protests that played a large role in the fight for freedom for African Americans. All these images are from the textbook “African American History: A Journey of Liberation” which was published in 2001. These are only a few of the many images shown. The first shows Rosa Parks receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor for her actions on that bus that lead to a revolution. The other depicts a group of protesters marching in Washington D.C. our nation’s capital. This was a peaceful protest, like many others that were conducted that were made to seem violent even though they were not.
These racial minority groups faced much negativity throughout history. Eventually, this negativity began to fade out and was replaced with a more positive representation of both these groups of people and the actions that they took. This 70-year period only shows a small part of history, but it shows the importance of these groups and how they are taught about in society today.
Glorification to Inclusivity
Among the textbooks that I collected for my research, there was a trend identified that shows a decline in certain information along with an incline of other information. I noticed that in the later years Christopher Columbus and his voyage to the United States began to fizzle out while Japanese-American Internment Camps and the Civil Rights Movement began to take their place. The glorification of certain figures and events came to an end, while textbooks began to highlight the inclusivity of minority ethnic groups that had been hidden for too long.
Through my qualitative analysis, I looked at the number of pages given to each section in each of the textbooks. I noticed that over time the number of pages written on Christopher Columbus slowly increased and then decreased. That decrease came with an increase in the number of pages used for Japanese-American internment camps and the Civil Rights Movement. Although the Japanese-American internment camps continue to be talked about sporadically, It is spoken about in more recent years much more than it had been in the earlier years of the data sample. Also, I noticed that the Civil Rights Movement took a while to be implemented into textbooks, it was not written about till 1973. The number of pages used for the Civil Rights Movement increased in the year 2001, the event was given sixty pages.
Along with the decrease in writing about Christopher Columbus came a focus on the settlers from large countries such as Spain. With that came a focus on Native Americans and all that they did to help the settlers. This included, “The colonists also took advantage of that marvel of Indian technology, the birchbark canoe” (Garraty 2000:28). This gives credit to a minority group that was originally spoken about in such a negative way. Textbooks were becoming slowly more inclusive to all racial minority groups.
Similarly, when World War II is spoken about in the textbooks I noticed that there was a large amount on the holocaust, which was the imprisonment of Jewish people in Germany under the Hitler regime. There was very little on the internment of Japanese-Americans within the United States. This is an important event in American history that is rarely spoken about. When internment camps were spoken about they were in small sections on one page out of forty or fifty pages on World War II. In the later years, textbooks began to highlight this event through imagery and text. In a textbook from 2008, it says “no Japanese American was ever tried for espionage or sabotage” (Abbleby 2005: 629). This shows that Japanese-Americans were innocent and shouldn’t have been put in these camps. These textbooks create new inclusiveness of all ethnic groups that make up the United States. Instead of glorifying one man that ‘found’ the new world.
All in all, textbooks are constantly evolving for the better. There is an emphasis on minority ethnic groups rather than a focus on white colonizers who ‘found’ and took over the new world. Christopher Columbus is being replaced by figures such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. along with many other important minority leaders.
Women Make their Mark
Throughout history women have constantly been overlooked, students have thought that they had very little role in these monumental historical moments. Similar to these minority ethnic groups, women faced the same repressed characterization through the textbooks’ narratives. Through the qualitative and quantitative data, I came to realize how women slowly made their mark on society in the five major historical events that I looked at. Women such as Sacagawea, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and many others.
History has always been dominated by males but my research shows how women played such a large role. Throughout the images shown in the textbooks which I looked at this can be seen quite clearly. Although one important woman in the Native American’s story was left out. This woman was Sacagawea, she helped Lewis and Clark when they came to the Americas. Students should know all parts of Native American history in the United States including the role that Sacagawea played. Although when the discovery of America is discussed through Christopher Columbus there is no mention of Sacagawea. The role that she played is omitted through this specific event in United States history textbooks.
Another important woman that wasn’t mentioned in the early textbooks was Harriet Tubman. She was one of the leaders of the Underground Railroad. Which helped slaves escape the plantations they were living on and the masters that controlled them. In 1971 is when Harriet Tubman was first introduced into textbooks this was years after slavery had ended. This picture shows that even when females are presented in photographs, they are usually sitting. There are very few action shots of them. The impact that they had was not fully shown since history was so male-dominated. Similar to Harriet Tubman there is an image of Rosa Parks who is also sitting. This picture was presented in a textbook from 1998. Although the difference is that she is sitting on a bus. Rosa Parks was well known for her actions, she sat in the whites-only section in the front of the bus. She was told to move but refused to, this made a statement that was heard around the world for doing what she did. This image was used repeatedly in several textbooks. This image and similar images of Rosa Parks are used in textbooks from 1998 to 2016. Showing the importance of the actions that this woman took to take a small step in a large historical movement. Women’s roles are far from the many major events that have occurred throughout history.
Overall, women such as Sacagawea, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks are few among many that have created monumental moments in history. They pushed the limits and were able to put minority racial groups on the map. Though the narratives laid out do not do enough, they deserve to be highlighted equally to their male counterparts. This can be seen through their absence in my quantitative data as well as the limited presence in the qualitative data through the images and words in the textbooks.