For teachers, parents, and students, August is a time for new beginnings. Much like the commemoration of the New Year on January 1^st, it’s marked with fresh starts, resolutions, and renewed hopes. August signals the beginning of the school year, filled with sharpened pencils, brand-new notebooks, fresh supplies, and backpacks that somehow always feel too big on the first day. Parents check off shopping lists, teachers prepare lessons, and kids brace themselves for early mornings, new schedules, classroom sessions, and long car rider lines.

First-day-of-school photos convey a sense of optimism that this year of learning will be meaningful. It brings about a pathway of hope, that a new beginning will spark a love of learning and a passion for seeking truth. The journey of gaining knowledge is rarely a straight path. It’s a winding road, full of detours, unexpected turns, and the occasional dead end. There are moments of clarity and bursts of insight, but also stretches of confusion and discomfort. That’s what makes it a true adventure.

Learning can bring about a eureka moment when we realize that what we were taught as fact may not necessarily be accurate. Every person has a story, yet some people are never given a pen or a microphone to share theirs. An African Proverb states, “Until the lion learns to write, the story will always glorify the hunter.” Since the hunter can tell the story and the platform to share it, the hunter’s point of view is elevated, believed, and taught as fact. Analyze the narrative by asking: Whose voice is uplifted? Whose voices are missing?

For generations, the voices of Indigenous people, who had no access to pen and paper, the enslaved who were denied access to learn to read or write, and the person on the street corner who holds up a sign asking for help have been silenced. Even when someone stops to listen, the story is often dismissed in disbelief or blame.

The exclusion of information wasn’t accidental; it was intentional and well-organized. In the early 1900s, Southern educators actively worked to rewrite history.  One example is Mildred Rutherford (1851 to 1928), who had a significant influence on educational standards, particularly in how the Civil War was presented in textbooks across the United States.

Rutherford was instrumental in shaping curriculum that framed the Confederacy in a positive light. In her 1919 publication A Measuring Rod to Test Textbooks, and Reference Books in Schools, Colleges, and Libraries, she outlined how to evaluate textbooks on how to evaluate texts:

• “Reject a book that says the South fought to hold her slaves” (p. 5)
• “Reject a book that speaks of the slaveholder of the South as cruel and unjust to his slaves” (p. 5)
• “Reject a textbook that glorifies Abraham Lincoln and vilifies Jefferson Davis, unless a truthful cause can be found for such glorification and vilification before 1865” (p. 5)

Additionally, she offered a list of approved books, endorsed by Confederate veterans and members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, as a guide for textbook committees and librarians. Her mission was clear: to institutionalize the “Lost Cause” as the accepted historical truth.

That narrative took root. For decades, students across the United States have been taught that the Civil War was mainly about states’ rights, not enslavement. The consistency of this message across generations demonstrates the profound impact of Rutherford’s influence. It frames the point made by Bryan Stevenson: “The North won the Civil War, but the South won the narrative.”

This coordinated campaign of misinformation was intentional, unified, and orchestrated to suppress and distort the truth about enslavement. The Lost Cause narrative infiltrated its way into student curriculum and has endured for more than a century.

This summer, the United States government began posting signs in National Parks encouraging visitors to report history that disparages or depicts inaccurate history. Using QR codes to report disparaging United States history, patrons can submit feedback or suggestions. Consider the fact that the National Park Service manages places like the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, the Frederick Douglass House, the Rosa Parks Museum, and the Freedom Trail in Alabama, all of which recount the atrocities of enslavement, Jim Crow, and Bloody Sunday. These histories are uncomfortable because they reveal deep flaws in the nation’s founding and evolution.  Erasing them would mean handing the pen exclusively to the hunter.

Now, there is a call to seek out the lion’s story.

August is not only a time of new beginnings – it’s also a time for committing to both learning and unlearning.  

Seek out primary sources and listen to voices that have long been ignored. Read, listen to, or watch media that represent multiple perspectives. Think critically, not just about the learning, but also about what might be missing.

Because honest history isn’t just about facts. It’s about justice.

As this school year begins, let’s do more than sharpen pencils and prep backpacks. Let’s sharpen our understanding and pack courage in commitment to listen to the voices that are missing.

References

Rutherford, M. (1919). A Measuring Rod to Test Textbooks, and Reference Books in Schools, Colleges, and Libraries. https://archive.org/details/measuringrodtot00ruth/page/4/mode/2up