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.The apology bill declaredthat the government of the state of New York formally apologizes for its rolein sanctioning and perpetuating slavery and its vestiges. It also acknowledged, slavery, the transatlantic and the domestic slave trade were appalling tragediesin the history of New York state not only because of their abhorrent barbarismbut also in terms of their magnitude, organized nature and especially theirnegation of the humanity of the enslaved person (Gershman, 2007).Virginia,during the state s celebration of the 400th anniversary of the settlement ofJamestown, approved a similar resolution, as did lawmakers in Alabama,Arkansas, Maryland, New Jersey, and North Carolina.These resolutions, how-ever, were largely symbolic and did not suggest methods for redressing whathappened in the past or even how people would finally began to learn the truthabout history.The New York State Senate s Majority Leader, while blockingthe legislation, declared that every one recognizes the sins, and that althoughhe sympathized with the bill s intent, he had to protect the state against possi-ble demands for reparations by descendants of the enslaved (Associated Press,2007; Root 2007).As the students from Law, Government, and Community Service MagnetHigh School in Cambria Heights, Queens learned when they planned a walk-ing tour of slavery-related sites in lower Manhattan, decisions about what getsincluded in the social studies curriculum, and in official public history of theUnited States, are largely made for political reasons (English, 2006, A18; Pe-zone and Singer, 2006, pp.32 35).If students are to learn the truth aboutslavery in New York, the North, and the United States, it will require commit-ted activism.Illusions about the past and about American society today diehard, and as Frederick Douglass pointed out, If there is no struggle, there is noprogress (Foner, 1950, p.437).There are powerful forces aligned against any genuine effort to rewrite thenation s past and to teach the truth about the history of slavery.They includeconservative authors with close ties to Republican administrations, right-wingfoundations, some traditional liberals such as the recently deceased ArthurSchlesinger, Jr., and even prominent historians who have sacrificed principlefor position and privilege (Singer, 2005c, pp.199 205; Brooks, 2006, p.A27).For two decades, the right has vigorously attacked changes in the curricu-lum that promote a more multicultural framework as a Trojan horse de-signed to undermine American values.One of its leading spokespersons hasbeen Diane Ravitch, a former undersecretary of education in the first Bush(1989 1993) administration, who is sponsored by the Educational ExcellenceNetwork, the Fordham Foundation, the John M.Olin Foundation, and theManhattan Institute.Ravitch has dismissed multicultural education as a per-nicious idea that promotes ethnocentrism (Ravitch, 1990b, p.3).Followingthe attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Time to Teach the Truth 119Washington DC on September 11, 2001, she virtually equated multiculturaleducators with the terrorists because, as advocates of diverse perspectiveson world events, they were encouraging cultural relativism (Ravitch, 2001;Ravitch, 2002, pp.6 9).Major right-wing players in the war over what should be taught as historyinclude Richard Gilder and Lewis E.Lehrman, cofounders of the GilderLehrman Institute of American History, who control the Board of Directors ofthe New York Historical Society.Richard Gilder is a founding member, andformer chair, of the Board of Trustees of the Manhattan Institute.LewisLehrman is a trustee of the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan In-stitute, and the Heritage Foundation.In a New York Times interview (Pogrebinand Collins, 2004), Gilder acknowledged that their goal was to influence thenational debate over history.Their view on slavery, as explained by Lehrman,is that it was an institution supported throughout the world, but Americanstook the initiative in destroying it. Lehrman deplored the belief that Ameri-can history consists of one failure after another to deal with the issue of slav-ery. However, he believes that One of the triumphs of America was to havedealt directly with that issue in the agonies of a civil war, and to have passed the13th, 14th and 15th Amendments (p.E1).The Gilder Lehrman Institute advisory board, which gives them an air oflegitimacy, includes many prominent names from the history profession in theUnited States.As members of the advisory board, these historians are feted,paid consulting fees, and have their publications promoted.The historians onthe Gilder Lehrman Institute advisory board tend to be from the liberal-leftend of the political spectrum and not to see anything wrong with their involve-ment.As Upton Sinclair commented in a book about his unsuccessful cam-paign for governor of California during the Great Depression, it is difficult toget a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not under-standing it (Sinclair, 1935/1994, p.109).Politics and privilege make very strange bedfellows.The advisory boardalso includes conservatives such as Roger Kimball, managing editor of the NewCriterion, Richard Brookhiser, senior editor at National Review, Roger Hertog,former chairman of the Manhattan Institute, and Diane Ravitch.This is not the only time in recent years that historians and their profes-sional organizations have deluded themselves in a vain effort to influence publicpolicy.In January 1995, the U.S
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