To: The Tennessee State House, The Tennessee State Senate, and Governor Bill Lee
Be true to history
Please do not cave in to pressure from the state's Tea Party to adopt a revisionist view of history that downplays the existence of slavery in the nation's history. Considering that the greatest number of our soldiers were killed in the biggest war this nation has ever fought and that was waged around the issue of the existence of slavery, it would be a disservice to our children's education to eliminate from the studies such a critical issue. If they don't learn it in our own schools, they surely will have to learn about slavery when they pursue higher education in another state and will find themselves lagging in knowledge from peers who have studied the true history of the US. Don't let this happen. Don't tamper with our state's and nation's history.
Why is this important?
The State of Tennessee is being pressured by the Tea Party to rewrite American History excluding the issue of slavery, as if slavery never occurred. In this scenarion, our children would be learning a version of history that they would have to revise once they took up studies outside the state.