A fresh voice in history

Before the 11th grade, I had never considered that what I'd been taught about U.S. History throughout my school career could be anything but the truth. I'm not suggesting that my previous teachers had taught me falsehoods, but I was unaware at the time that history is comprised of many, not just one, viewpoints. My 11th grade AP US history teacher, an African-American woman at a nearly all-white school deep in the heart of Texas, was the one responsible for giving me a more complete perspective of my nation's past, as well as present and future.

For the first time, I finally heard and understood that all men are created equal in the law of new America, according to Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers, unless you were black, female or Native American. I also learned where Native American people, who were so instrumental in the survival of the first European settlers, figured into America's vision of Manifest Destiny. I learned some of the grim realities of African-Americans in U.S. history, such as lynchings and Jim Crow laws, but also learned of the glories of the Harlem renaissance. African-Americans, women and other under-represented groups shared equal airtime with the more standard interpretations of American history in my teacher's class. On the one hand, her course shattered many of my illusions and exposed me to events in my country's history that I was anything but proud of. On the other hand, however, I had a much deeper respect for my teacher for presenting me with a more complete picture.

In addition to challenging us to open our minds, my US history teacher challenged us academically as well. She ran her class like a college course, down to the college-level textbook we were required to read. Her multiple choice test questions were usually so intricate, they made the essay questions seemed easy by comparison. Her expectations of our work were extremely high, but success in her class was well earned and very gratifying. I recall knowing in most of my classes the minimum effort I needed to exert to earn an A, except in US history. My history grade did not do much to raise my GPA and that was all right, because for the first time in high school, I learned that the personal and academic growth I take away from a course with is much more important.