United States history is one subject that a lot of Americans like to be loud and wrong about
OPINION: A recent trip to the White House and ear hustling everybody’s conversations made me realize most folks don’t know anything about U.S. history.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
It’s Christmastime in all of America, and that means that decorations – and going to see decorations – are a thing. For those people who live in, or are visiting, Washington, D.C., during the holiday season, visiting the White House for their White House Christmas Tour might be on their list of things to do. Now, it’s not as easy as just showing up and walking into the front door; you have to sign up for tickets, send your information, be confirmed for attendance at a specific time slot and then show up and wait in a tremendous number of lines in the cold to get in. But once inside, you get to see how several areas and important rooms in the White House are decorated for the holiday season. I recently went on the holiday tour and had a time.
In addition to the decorations, you also see lots of portraits, artifacts and historical items that are permanently placed throughout America’s most famous residence. You see portraits of former presidents and first ladies. You see the displays of various china that was used during different administrations – going back as far as the early 1800s – statues and tiny monuments, etc. It’s as interesting for what’s inside as it is for the holiday decorations. Especially because, when it comes to American history, a lot of people are very wrong about a lot of our history. That’s understandable. U.S. history covers almost 250 years (I can’t imagine what it would be like taking a British history or Chinese history course ) — but whew, chile.
Now look, I didn’t go to the White House expecting to ear hustle anybody’s conversation, but once you hear a few too many alternate facts, you can’t help but wonder just how much aggressively shared misinformation is out there. For instance, and how this whole thing started, I was minding my business checking out the display of china sets used by former administrations like Franklin Pierce, Bill Clinton and Abraham Lincoln when I heard a voice behind me offer up LITERALLY impossible dates for something Lincoln did. The date this particular gentleman offered was post-Civil War in 1867; if you’ll remember, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865. Honest mistake on the part of this chap, sure. The problem is – and a problem I observed over and over – he was offering up this false information confidently to a person who also had no idea and who was about to take his inaccuracy as a truth.
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I didn’t correct him, and frankly I’m sure he wouldn’t have taken my word as fact. And if I’m being honest, his confidence made me question my own set of facts. But that’s when I started listening to other people’s conversations as we filed through the White House. I heard people inaccurately identify presidents in the portraits hanging around. And I can’t tell you how many people thought Nancy Reagan was Queen Elizabeth. My 7-year-old was one of them, and I thought that was cute. The fact that he got a co-sign from an adult threw me for a loop. I also realized that the only presidents easy to recognize are Kennedy, Lincoln and Obama. I won’t say who, but somebody I know misidentified a portrait of Ronald Reagan as Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Similarly, it was fun to hear people’s inaccuracies about dates and instances in American history, especially since most of the things people were talking about had a placard explaining the time, date and circumstance of the thing people were wrong about. When was the White House burned down? Depends on who you ask, I suppose. I heard a family debating if it happened after the Civil War as a sign of protest or, oddly, before it was even built during the Revolutionary War. The right answer is 1814, which would be during the War of 1812. Who did it? Also depends on who is asked. That same couple debated this. Nobody was right. They must have a blast watching “National Treasure.”
To be fair, I also thought it happened in 1804 but quickly corrected that to my children once I saw the right information on a plaque in one of the staterooms. Look, I’m not saying everybody has to have a degree in U.S. history, and it’s especially not required to visit any monument or landmark in Washington. However, I do think most people have no idea when most stuff happened and are super excited to share the information we don’t know with anybody who will listen. I heard A LOT of misinformation while walking through the White House, and all of that information is going to be passed along. On purpose. There’s always a person in a group who is sure that they’re right about the thing nobody else has any idea about. Is that person right? Based on what I heard, probably not. But we all enjoy a confident response to a question.
At least, though, everybody could easily identify Barack and Michelle Obama. I guess all presidents and first ladies don’t look alike.
I’ll see myself out.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest), but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said: “Unknown” (Blackest).
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