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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Textbook passage referring to slaves as 'workers' prompts outcry | Textbook passage referring to slaves as 'workers' prompts outcry |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| It started with a text from a Houston-area ninth-grader to his mother. | It started with a text from a Houston-area ninth-grader to his mother. |
| On reading a caption in his geography textbook that described slaves as “workers”, Coby Burren sent a photo and an annoyed message to his mother. “We was real hard workers wasn’t we,” he wrote. | On reading a caption in his geography textbook that described slaves as “workers”, Coby Burren sent a photo and an annoyed message to his mother. “We was real hard workers wasn’t we,” he wrote. |
| Roni Dean-Burren was also disturbed by the language, and posted about the book online. Her comments went viral and the publisher swiftly decided to rewrite the section. | Roni Dean-Burren was also disturbed by the language, and posted about the book online. Her comments went viral and the publisher swiftly decided to rewrite the section. |
| The offending passage was in pages titled Patterns of Immigration in McGraw-Hill Education’s World Geography book. A colourful map of the US was adorned with a speech bubble which said: “The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.” | The offending passage was in pages titled Patterns of Immigration in McGraw-Hill Education’s World Geography book. A colourful map of the US was adorned with a speech bubble which said: “The Atlantic Slave Trade between the 1500s and 1800s brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations.” |
| Dean-Burren, and thousands of others who reacted on social media, objected to a choice of words which seems to imply that slaves were economic migrants. | Dean-Burren, and thousands of others who reacted on social media, objected to a choice of words which seems to imply that slaves were economic migrants. |
| “Immigrants. Yeah, that word matters – immigrants,” she said. “So it is now considered immigration.” | “Immigrants. Yeah, that word matters – immigrants,” she said. “So it is now considered immigration.” |
| She pointed to a section on the facing page that described Europeans who came to the US to work as indentured servants, for little or no pay. | She pointed to a section on the facing page that described Europeans who came to the US to work as indentured servants, for little or no pay. |
| “They say that about English and European people, but there is no mention of African immigrants working as slaves or being slaves. It just says that we were workers,” she said. | “They say that about English and European people, but there is no mention of African immigrants working as slaves or being slaves. It just says that we were workers,” she said. |
| “We are deeply sorry that the caption was written this way,” McGraw-Hill Education chief executive David Levin said in a letter to employees on Monday. “While the book was reviewed by many people inside and outside the company, and was made available for public review, no one raised concerns about the caption. Yet, clearly, something went wrong and we must and will do better.” | |
| The company had already said it would change the wording in future editions and agreed that the language “did not adequately convey that Africans were both forced into migration and to labor against their will as slaves”. | |
| In response, Dean-Burren wrote on Facebook: “This is change people!!! This is why your voices matter!!! You did this!!!” | In response, Dean-Burren wrote on Facebook: “This is change people!!! This is why your voices matter!!! You did this!!!” |
| It is far from the only controversy surrounding Texas textbooks, which in recent years have become a battleground for ideological disputes. | It is far from the only controversy surrounding Texas textbooks, which in recent years have become a battleground for ideological disputes. |
| In 2010, Christian conservatives on the Texas board of education approved a curriculum that they saw as redressing liberal biases by promoting such topics as religion’s role in the founding of America, Reaganism, the undermining of American sovereignty by the United Nations and why the McCarthyism of the 1950s was not so bad after all. | In 2010, Christian conservatives on the Texas board of education approved a curriculum that they saw as redressing liberal biases by promoting such topics as religion’s role in the founding of America, Reaganism, the undermining of American sovereignty by the United Nations and why the McCarthyism of the 1950s was not so bad after all. |
| It was suggested that the slave trade be termed the “Atlantic triangular trade”. | It was suggested that the slave trade be termed the “Atlantic triangular trade”. |
| Last year, the board approved a politics textbook that listed Moses as a key influence on the Founding Fathers. | Last year, the board approved a politics textbook that listed Moses as a key influence on the Founding Fathers. |
| How to cover climate change and creationism have also provoked controversy. Last year, McGraw-Hill made changes after a proposed textbook wrongly stated that there was no scientific consensus on the cause of global warming and cited a rightwing thinktank that is a prominent climate-change denier. | How to cover climate change and creationism have also provoked controversy. Last year, McGraw-Hill made changes after a proposed textbook wrongly stated that there was no scientific consensus on the cause of global warming and cited a rightwing thinktank that is a prominent climate-change denier. |
| In another example of the kind of understated use of language that upset Dean-Burren, the curriculum standards call for “sectionalism, states’ rights and slavery” to be taught as causes of the civil war – placing slavery third, though it was the central reason. | In another example of the kind of understated use of language that upset Dean-Burren, the curriculum standards call for “sectionalism, states’ rights and slavery” to be taught as causes of the civil war – placing slavery third, though it was the central reason. |
| Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an activist group that monitors the religious right, said in a statement that the group was “encouraged that the publisher is correcting this passage downplaying the history of slavery in the United States. | Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an activist group that monitors the religious right, said in a statement that the group was “encouraged that the publisher is correcting this passage downplaying the history of slavery in the United States. |
| “But it’s no accident that this happened in Texas,” the statement added. “We have a textbook adoption process that’s so politicized and so flawed that it’s become almost a punchline for comedians. | “But it’s no accident that this happened in Texas,” the statement added. “We have a textbook adoption process that’s so politicized and so flawed that it’s become almost a punchline for comedians. |
| “The truth is that too many elected officials who oversee that process are less interested in accurate, fact-based textbooks than they are in promoting their own political views in our kids’ classrooms.” | “The truth is that too many elected officials who oversee that process are less interested in accurate, fact-based textbooks than they are in promoting their own political views in our kids’ classrooms.” |