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Can
novels really help teach history?
As an advocate
for the power of story, Susan
Follett speaks on the role of historical
fiction in civil rights education and
conversations on race. Here are some of
her thoughts.
Critical Thinking
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I believe that critical
thinking skills are fundamental to the
preservation of our democracy. My
Freedom Summer-centric historical
novel,
The
FOG MACHINE,
was born of my need to answer two
questions:
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Why didn’t I know the history of my
childhood, growing up in Mississippi
in the sixties, in the epicenter of
the civil rights movement?
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What might be different if I had?
As I researched the first
question and wrote my imaginings about
the second, I was drawn to explore
those same questions on behalf of
others:
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Where
and how is the history of the civil
rights movement being taught?
-
What
might be different for us all if
that answer can be extended?
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My
“Aha” Experience with Historical Fiction
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Like many I know, I was never
a lover of history classes in school.
Dry textbooks with one-sided
perspectives made it hard to think of
the people as real. Much less to
imagine being in their place and
facing choices such as they faced.
Mistakenly assuming
historical fiction would be like
history textbooks, I resisted reading
historical novels for years.
Fortunately, my first foray into
historical fiction was Freedom Road
by Howard Fast. I was enamored!
·
Of the
novel; its author; and its main
character Gideon Jackson, former slave
who goes on to raise up his family and
community and serve in the U.S. House
of Representatives
· Of history,
made credible by the inclusion of
primary source documents in the back
of the book; made heartfelt by the
power of story
I imagined myself in Gideon’s
place and doubted I could have
approached his courage. At the same
time, I believed I would have shared
what drove him. Indeed, it lies at the
core of our common humanity—wanting a
good life for oneself and one’s
family.
I had discovered
authentic historical fiction—able
to open minds through the heart’s
pathway. |
What is
this “power of story?”
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“Show a
people as one thing, as only one
thing, over and over
again, and that is what they become.”
—Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author on
the danger of a single story
This is what stereotypes are.
Not necessarily untrue, but certainly
incomplete.
As my character Flo Thomas in
The
FOG MACHINE
says, “There’s lots of Alabamas in
Alabama, you understand.” |
Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie on the danger of a single
story |
Example: The Meridian Freedom Project
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The Meridian
Freedom Project uses historical Young
Adult novels during their summer
session, deliberately choosing books
that address what it means to take
action.
Eighth graders I met when I
workshopped there in 2014 read Fire
from the Rock by Sharon Draper
before visiting Little Rock on their
end-of-summer civil rights tour.
Their tour guide showed them
the AP history textbook being used at
Central High. It had a picture and
one small paragraph about the
desegregation.
MFP students felt that what
they’d read had given them far more
understanding of the Little Rock Nine
and how kids their age decided whether
or not to participate.
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Wisdom
from Freedom Summer Veterans
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“Fiction was an essential
resource for teachers in building both
literacy and awareness. Powerful in
two important ways.
“Fiction was an essential resource for
teachers in building both literacy and
awareness. Powerful in two important
ways.
·
First, because it’s often easier to
contemplate a fictional character’s
situation and choices.
·
And second, because fiction allows
stepping out of the here and now to
view an arc in time.”
—Gail Falk, 1964 Meridian
Freedom School Teacher
“Because we can feel it, we get
the moral not just as a concept, but
as a teaching of our hearts.”
—Marshall Ganz, Freedom Summer
veteran who now teaches leadership
storytelling at Harvard’s Kennedy
School of Government
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Teaching History via Story
I came to understand why I didn’t know the
history of my childhood, and doing so has
made me determined to help others know
it. I will never know what I might have
done had I been older and more aware
during Freedom Summer. But imagining the
answer has shown me a world worth working
for.
It’s important to champion the teaching of
our full history in our schools. What’s
taught has always been limited. Today,
it’s further under attack by school boards
and textbook publishers. Encroachment on
rights for voting and equal access gained
during Freedom Summer is an injustice
that’s harder to perpetrate on a society
that knows its history.
Both recognizing and battling prejudice
depend on knowing our history. Truly
knowing our history depends on what gets
taught and how. I assert that:
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What
should be taught is the history not just
of the civil rights movement, but of other
movements—movements for human
rights.
·
And how that
should be taught is in an inquiry-based
fashion.
If that teaching can be enriched by the
use of story-based resources—for which
there’s ample evidence of the power to
open minds through the heart’s pathway—all
the better.
As Adiche says, “When we reject the single
story, when we realize that there is never
a single story about any place, we regain
a kind of paradise.” It is my mission to
contribute to that paradise.
—Susan Follett, Author
The
FOG MACHINE and advocate
for the power of story to dismantle
stereotypes that divide us
Photo
Resources
Gail Falk,
teaching: Meridian Freedom School, 1964
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN4A0OspDl098uGAc7bkzwBXlmX_3tCvd5H_p0PRpxeiVDgJiNoct3FIIvNT2JbRQ/photo/AF1QipMbcg_rAloXpFR0hTqKWx4w1Or2Qvvb6vk-NI8?key=S3BiVlNNVGl4RklJNW1WQ1FzN0RteE00RTVhQVlR
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