Revisionist History at its Best: Tennessee Tea Party Says 'take the slavery out of American History textbooks'

American History without slavery? Say what?

A school board in Texas succeeded in whitewashing slavery in students' textbooks last year.  

[Among other revisions were the replacement of the term 'trans-Atlantic slave trade' with 'Atlantic triangular trade.']  

Now, Tea Partyers in Tennessee are attempting to accomplish the same goal.  The group wants to remove references to slavery altogether and, you know, the fact that the 'founding fathers' owned slaves.  

Spokesperson for the group, Hal Rounds, says that textbooks should focus more on the 'revolutionary' nature of the founders instead of any hypocrisy that might have taken place. 

The Tennessee group handed out leaflets that said:

Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States.  We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.

'Truth regarding the history of our nation' includes mass murder, smallpox blankets, and, oh yeah, slavery.  There's no need to clean it up or make it more appealing.   

I think that's impossible.  When I was in secondary school, the pictures of slaves in books featured them smiling and dancing in colorful garb.  Textbooks have progressed a bit in less than 10 years and now is not the time to take steps back.  

More on the nonsense here.

First Black Woman to Win 'Best Director' Award at Sundance Film Festival

Ava Duvernay received the 'Best Director' prize at this year's Sundance Festival.  Duvernay, who also founded the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM), won for her drama 'Middle of Nowhere'.  The AFFRM initiative is aimed at increasing the screenings of independent Black films. 

"Middle of Nowhere is a story about a woman named Ruby who has lost her husband to incarceration.  It touches on the prison wives' tale, but really the story of a woman who's living in a relationship that's imbalanced," she said.

Due to its success, Participant Media, which is also the distributor of 'An Inconvenient Truth' and 'Waiting for Superman', has secured the theatrical rights to the film.

Congratulations, Ms. Duvernay.  

More here and here.

Strong Black Woman of the Week: Camilla Williams

Camilla Williams, the first black female singer to receive a contract with a major opera company, died January 29, 2012 at the age of 92. Ms. Williams was born in the segregated south as the daughter of a chauffeur. She made her soprano debut with the New York City Opera house singing Madame Butterfly.

All my people sing. We were poor, but God blessed us with music.

--Camilla Williams

Rest in Peace Ms. Williams

Click here to hear her sing. 

Read more here.

3rd Anniversary of the Fair Pay Act

3 years ago, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law.  It was the first real piece of legislation he signed during his presidency.

Real more about Ledbetter's fight for women everywhere and the legislation here.