Some gems I get to bring up:
-
The Spanish under Isabella only enslaved Native Americans who practiced slavery & cannibalism because the Spanish thought it would be immoral to enslave tribes who never relied on slavery.
-
The Republicans didn't "switch" positions with the Democrats. In close races Republicans didn't win the majority of former slave states until the 1996 election - nearly 40 years after the Civil Rights movement.
-
McCarthy was maligned despite being proven correct. It was the House controlled by Democrats who went after celebrities.
-
The Arab Slave Trade & Barbary Slave Trade
-
Sam Adams had his men dress as Native Americans during the Boston tea party to symbolize no longer being British -- not to blame them.
The only other teacher who handles exclusively American History is also a huge Trump supporter so at least our graduating class for a few semesters will graduate knowing real history
I'd also take down a few of their heroes. For example, FDR put a known KKK member on the SCOTUS, Hugo Black. He also went to his deathbed refusing to integrate the armed forces, despite the Republican Party platform officially calling for it in 1940.
He also invited all 1936 Olympic gold medalists to the White House EXCEPT Jesse Owens. Owens would state in his autobiography that Hitler treated him better than his president did. When you're more racist than Adolf Hitler, at the height of his power in Nazi Germany...you're pretty freaking racist. Eisenhower would make up for it by naming Owens "Ambassador of Sports" while he was president.
And there's similar info for both Wilson and LBJ. They're probably the most racist presidents we've ever had and they're also our 3 most "progressive presidents".