This article in the Washington Post has me thinking.
Opinion: In my advanced high school history textbook, it’s as if women didn’t exist
“Once, after second-grade history class, I came home and jokingly asked, “So did women just not exist?”
Ten years later, the question stands. But I’m no longer laughing.”
Where are the women in the SOL? Which ones are named? For a number of years, Eleanor Roosevelt appeared in the first grade standards. She was taken out in the 2015 revision. Currently in grades K-3 and Virginia Studies we find Pocahontas, Maggie L. Walker, Helen Keller, and Rosa Parks. US History to 1865, which can be taught in 5th or 6th grade includes Harriet Tubman, Isabella (Sojourna) Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Clara Barton, and Mary Bowser.
Do you know these women? Are there others that are missing? What women should we be highlighting in the elementary curriculum?