“The goal that we’ve put in place: Decentering power structures that have dominated U.S. history previously and allow other voices to emerge in a more robust way,” said Upper School History Department Chair and 10th grade history teacher Dr. Jennifer Tammi.
The history of The United States is studied by all students in the tenth grade at Fieldston, coinciding with the American literature survey course as part of the American studies curriculum. This year, the U.S. history curriculum has been completely reconstructed. The tenth grade is still studying U.S. history, however, it is through an ethnic studies lens.
This reinvented curriculum was “largely prompted by the Students of Color Matter (SOCM) protest,” said Tammi. However, talk of alteration among the Fieldston faculty also predates the SOCM protest.
In 2016 there was a student led protest, during which many students walked out of the assembly being held that day. There were a number of topics being protested, one of them being the Fieldston curriculum; more specifically, the perception that people of color’s voices were being marginalized in the curriculum and the impact that was having in the classroom and beyond. Tammi said, “a number of us in the history department sat on the quad and listened to what the students had to say. And then the conversation came about questioning, ‘How do we change the experiences for these students?’”
Then, during the 2018-2019 school year, the SOCM protest and initiatives began. Among the various demands put forth by the students, one demand was for there to be a mandatory Black Studies course – this was then later revised to be an Ethnic Studies course. A meeting then took place for the middle and high school English and History departments to choose where this course would fit. In the end it was decided that the Ethnic Studies course was to be implemented in tenth grade history classes. The tenth grade was chosen for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, every single student would have access to this course because it is not an elective (it is required), and in other schools Ethnic Studies is usually a separate course. Tammi said, “U.S. history is rooted through ethnic studies” and teaching a U.S. history course through an ethnic studies lens “would allow to really, truly decenter the white narrative.”
This new curriculum approaches U.S. history from a completely different point of view. For example, currently the tenth grade is studying enslavement. Tammi said that this new curriculum differs because, “[We are] coming at it with a vision of enslaved peoples’ humanity that you don’t get if you’re talking about enslavement imposed on people and then their reaction to it. It flips the history so that the dominant narrative is the story from the perspective of people previously marginalized in history. It doesn’t erase the other history… but, the hope is that you’ll walk out of the class with a more holistic understanding of the experiences of all Americans.”
While it does have its differences, this new curriculum is still hitting the same milestones as the previous tenth grade U.S. history classes. Tammi said, “The pieces will come together more completely by the end of the year.” Simultaneously, alterations can (and will) be made based on how successful or unsuccessful parts of this new curriculum turn out to be.
The year-long course is split up into five different units: Indiginous experiences, African-American experiences, Asian-American experiences, Latinx experiences and whiteness. Each of these units will be woven into U.S. history itself by looking at it through those individuals’ points of view.
One of the most obvious differences between the old and new courses is the fact that the textbook that was previously used (written by Eric Foner, known for his classic study of Reconstruction:1863-1877 and The Story of American Freedom) has been replaced. All of the U.S. history teachers – Miriam Paterson, Jennifer Kim, Lou Resnikoff, Paul Heideman and Jennifer Tammi – have been working for a few years now to find new texts, readings and sources that highlight a multitude of voices and experiences; moving away from what they’ve called “ a Eurocentric master-narrative.”
So far, there has been a range of feedback. From people saying, “Wow, we’re so glad you’re finally doing this” to “When are students going to learn real history?” Dr. Tammi responds to all of this by saying:
“This is an institution of learning and we [the teachers] are learning too along with students. History is constantly being revised on how it’s taught, there are moments in historiography when there has been a significant shift on how history is understood or taught: one would be the Civil Rights movement. I really believe we are at another point in which there is going to be a significant shift in the way in which historians approach the telling of history. Whenever there is change, there is discomfort. People don’t know what it’s going to look like or the ramifications, and people get defensive. But, when you’re in the weeds of doing it, it can be exciting to all of the sudden think about something you’ve taught one way in a completely different way.”
