Skip to content

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
      • Pregnant people are at 'greater risk' in states hit hard by wildfire smoke, air pollution, new report shows

        Jessica Kutz · April 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
      • U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik wants to elect more Republican women into office

        Barbara Rodriguez · August 13
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Jessica Cisneros takes on the last anti-abortion U.S. House Democrat

        Amanda Becker · February 25
      • Meet J. Michelle Childs, South Carolina judge and possible Supreme Court contender

        Candice Norwood · February 18
      • ‘The bench is loaded’: A record number of Latinas are running for governor

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 11
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: The governor’s races we’re watching in 2022

        Barbara Rodriguez · May 3
      • The 19th Explains: What to know about Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing

        Candice Norwood, Terri Rupar · March 21
      • The 19th Explains: Colleges are dropping the SAT in admissions. That’s a good thing for most girls.

        Nadra Nittle · March 3
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
      • Girls are being socialized to lose political ambition — and it starts younger than we realized

        Barbara Rodriguez · September 23
      • Kathy Hochul’s rise in New York spotlights the barriers to women becoming governors

        Barbara Rodriguez · August 23
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • Woman alleges that an assisted living facility denied her admission because she is transgender

        Sara Luterman · November 8
      • LGBTQ+ seniors fear having to go back in closet for the care they need

        Sara Luterman · October 12
      • The pandemic continues to strain nursing homes. What happens if a lot of them close?

        Mariel Padilla · September 9
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Florida’s redistricting fight continues. The head of the state League of Women Voters talks about what’s at stake.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 19
      • Women have been sounding the alarm ahead of Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 28
      • LGBTQ+ people of color are at risk from rising voter restrictions as federal protections falter in the Senate, advocates say

        Orion Rummler · January 19

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Elections 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Donate to get our member newsletter

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Deb Haaland sitting at a table speaking into a microphone.
(Photo by Graeme Jennings-Pool/Getty Images)

Education

Deb Haaland asks America to teach the history it doesn’t want to repeat

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, first Native American Cabinet member, told The 19th that "history doesn't change," but that "we can choose not to learn about it."

Jennifer Gerson

Reporter

Jennifer Gerson headshot

Published

2021-08-16 14:39
2:39
August 16, 2021
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is used to discussing the role she plays as “the first.” As the very first Native American to hold the position as Cabinet secretary within the United States government, she inherently understands “the blessing and the burden,” as she told PBS NewsHour’s Lisa Desjardins for The 19th Represents Summit. 

“I stand on the shoulders of so many Native Americans who came before me,” Haaland, an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo, told The 19th. “I feel confident in that respect — they have made a path for me. I have to just reach out and ask for strength when I can.”

Right now, that strength of conviction is especially critical in light of the conversation currently gripping the United States about what parts of American history should and should not be taught in schools. As Desjardins said to Haaland, there are currently many White Americans who believe that teaching America’s racist past is somehow an effort to shame America — a belief that most recently has spurred lawmakers, educators and people in power within various government agencies to ban what’s known as critical race theory. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“I think what our country has taught us over the last year or so is that our history is everyone’s history,” Haaland said. “History doesn’t change. However, we can choose not to learn about it.”

Looking the other way, Haaland notes, has been the status quo for much of America’s past. The Department of Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative was launched by Haaland in June specifically to hold a candle to a long-ignored aspect of American history by documenting the burial sites within these schools where Native and Indigenous Americans were forcibly sent as children, often to die. It’s a step, Haaland said, toward addressing the intergenerational trauma faced by Native communities to this day as a result of seeing their children taken from their communities, often never to return home.

“Those families deserve that information,” Haaland said.

It’s this same mindset that guides Haaland’s belief that all parts of American history, even the uncomfortable ones, must be part of the conversation in schools.

“If we take the time to learn about the history, as devastating and sad and traumatizing as it is, we can shine a light on our past and embrace a future we can all be proud of,” Haaland said.

Even though this history of how Native Americans were treated in this country is difficult, Haaland says it’s far from unique — as the conversations that have taken place over the past year about America’s history with Black people have made so apparent. It’s also what has made it all the more urgent to ensure that all histories are taught, widely and openly. 

“It’s important we all embrace our history so we can change our future,” Haaland said, noting that doing so has “nothing [to do with] shaming,” but rather “coming into the knowledge we all need.”

Accounting for, and teaching, the full history of America is the path towards a more unified country, and not a more divided one, Haaland said.

“Look, we have heard over and over again about history repeating itself. We don’t want history repeating itself in so many respects,” she said. “What better way than learning about the history so we can make changes for the future?”

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Donate to get our member newsletter

Up Next

School nurse Kim Davey administers a COVID-19 vaccine.

Education

‘We need every tool in our toolbox’: COVID-19 Delta surge threatens to overwhelm school nurses

School nurses spent the past year mitigating in-school coronavirus spread and helping vaccinate staff and students. This year, many say they are burned out – just as COVID-19 cases surge once again.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Attend an Event
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram