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Inaccuracies in American History Writing & Roadside Monuments

Explore how American history textbooks may prioritize presentation over accuracy, and how roadside monuments can perpetuate historical inaccuracies. Discover the influences behind these misrepresentations.

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Inaccuracies in American History Writing & Roadside Monuments

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  1. LIES & AMERICAN HISTORY

  2. WRITING AMERICAN HISTORY HIGH SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS • Written Not to Offend Multiple Audiences • Written to Produce “Good” Citizens • Reviewed by People Who Can’t Read Them in Detail So They Focus on Their Needs • Publishers Copy Formats of Successful Books

  3. Books with “Glitz” (color pictures, jazzy cover, etc.) Often Make Better Impression Than More Accurate Books With Less Glitz • Authors May Not Know Historical Facts • Authors Often Not Willing to Seek Out Original Sources

  4. AMERICAN HISTORY ON ROADSIDE MONUMENTS • EXAMPLES: • Almo, Idaho: monument to battle between white pioneers and native americans that never happened want to keep it up • Valley Forge, Pa.: promotes idea that revolutionary army endured extraordinary hardships and suffering while camped there even though historical accounts do not support this

  5. Valley Forge, Pa.: George Washington portrayed as a devout Christian which historians agree he was not • Gettysburg, Pa.: South Carolina monument extols their Confederate dead who fought for freedom and states’ rights. Maintaining slavery is not mentioned. The Confederate Constitution built in no right for a state to secede, but it forbade states from ever “impairing the right of property in Negro slaves.”

  6. WHY ARE ROADSIDE MONUMENTS INACCURATE? • The people who put them up (pay for them) have a version of the truth they want displayed • People have a need to remember things in a particular way

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