Falsehoods and Feel-Good Myths About the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman

The Textbook Letter, Volume 12, Number 1 ^ | N/A | Michael B. Chesson

[golux]

By making explicit or implicit connections between the Underground Railroad and Tubman's trips, and by depicting Tubman as an Underground Railroad superstar, the textbooks imply that the paramount purpose of the Underground Railroad was to launch slave-stealing expeditions. That is false. The Underground Railroad was not in the business of staging raids, and Tubman's excursions were idiosyncrasies at best.

(...)

The salient points that occur again and again in the textbooks' accounts of Tubman -- such as the claim that she made nineteen trips to liberate slaves, and the claim that slave-owners put a huge price on her head -- are not historical facts. They are inventions.

(...)

All five of the textbooks that I have considered here give false impressions of the nature and effectiveness of the Underground Railroad, and all five mislead students by dwelling on Harriet Tubman and on fictitious accounts of her deeds. None of the books can give students any realistic idea of what the Underground Railroad was. None makes clear that most of the activities of the Underground Railroaders took place in the brief period between the enactment of the Compromise of 1850 (which included the Fugitive Slave Act of the same year) and the start of the Civil War....

[wardaddy]

If he listens to Ivanka only then maybe

She’s gorgeous but kinda PC

I don’t think Trump is that bad.........

Real Estate Tycoon and business man, Donald Trump, announced via Twitter that he supported the Confederate Flag. “Only an idiot opposes the Confederate Flag” read Trump’s tweet. Trump continued to rant stating that the flag is apart of everyone’s heritage and should fly on every government building in the south. “Schools, churches, post offices should all be allowed to proudly fly the Confederate Flag. There’s nothing racist about it. Black people are acting as if its a KFC flag” says Trump. The Confederate Flag has been the center of debate following the racially-motivated church shhoting masacre in South Carolina. It has been proposed to make flying the Confederate flag illegal at state and federal buildings.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Why not put different portraits on the same design on individual bills? Maybe George Washington, Martha Washington, and Betsy Ross on the one dollar bill. Lincoln, Paul Revere, and Pershing on the five, etc. Too confusing because one bill has one dead dude’s mug and the next one has somebody else? Too difficult to read the $1 in the corners?

[Cyberman]

A quick perusal of the source webpage reveals it to be a crank revisionist operation, rather like the “Institute for Creation Research”.

[catfish1957]

When did Trump have a pro-CBF Tweet? Do you have proof?.

Here is what he was quoted to say on June 22, 2015.....

I think they should put it in the museum and let it go," Trump said of the flag during an appearance at his new golf course in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. "Respect whatever it is you have to respect, because it was a point in time, and put it in a museum. But I would take it down. Yes."

[wardaddy]

Maybe you know something these folks didn’t

https://www.yahoo.com/news/pro-confederate-group-endorses-donald-trump-in-005353727.html

[Resolute Conservative]

$20’s see more circulation, i.e. ATM’s. I will make a point to never have a 20 on me.

[wardaddy]

He tweeted it per Laura Igraham on Facebook

https://m.facebook.com/ingrahamangle/posts/1669559706638342

[catfish1957]

I checked twitter and couldn’t see an official pro-CBF tweets from Trump. Not saying didn’t happen, but I sure couldn’t find it. HIs June 22, 2015 comment is still I guess the position of record.

[catfish1957]

Interesting. Wonder why it doesn’t show up in his account though? I have seen phantom tweets before. Not saying this is one, but .......

[867V309]

I suspect we will be seeing record numbers of 20’s decorated with mustaches, beards and all variety of adornment.

[golux]

I have just decided to stop using words.

[dangus]

LOL! Keep using the best vocab you can... just don’t try to grammar Nazi a grammar Nazi!

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[golux]

:-(