American history is, and should be treated as everyone’s history.  Very often in my class, I remind students that we give more than enough air-time to who we call “rich white guys,” the men who are the face of America’s founding.  While these men such as Jefferson, Hamilton, and Washington were absolutely imperative in the founding of our nation, the “invisible founders” cannot be forgotten, either, and are arguably just as, if not more important than the rich white guys we so often study.  The invisible founders; women, people of color, Native Americans, and immigrants, were as necessary to the foundational building blocks of the United States as the famous men we so often study.

Studying invisible founders brings necessary inclusivity to the American history classroom.  Students are exposed to and have the opportunity to analyze the ideas and actions of people who look like they do, which is invaluable.  As a teacher, I’ve wrestled with how best to diversify my curriculum so that we can honor the history of as many people as possible, and I’ve had to make cuts to traditional parts of the curriculum in order to include others.  In addition, when trying to find sources- especially primary sources from the earliest years of our history- it is particularly difficult.  As people who were enslaved, finding African American writings detailing any of their feelings about ratification of the Constitution has been impossible.  Even finding accessible early primary sources from females other than Mercy Otis Warren and Abigail Adams is difficult.  Therefore, my colleagues and I combined what we managed to find with children’s books that feature characters who were invisible to history in order to help our students take the sources they have and also use their imaginations to understand the importance of those other than “rich white guys.”

Two books we’ve chosen to use in our study of African American invisible founders this year include “A Fine Dessert” by Emily Jenkins and “My Name is James Madison Hemings” by Jonah Winter.  “A Fine Dessert” has been read during our George Washington unit (along with studying an out-of-print book, “A Birthday Cake for George Washington,” that features Hercules as its main character.)   We began by reading an article from Newsela about George Washington as a slave owner; a role in his life that is not often considered.  Follwing that reading, we asked students to think critically about the way slavery is portrayed in their text books, particularly in relation to our founders, and in literature for young children.   I wanted them to carefully consider how younger students get their information about people who had been enslaved.  Students determined that young children rely heavily on illustrations to help them understand the context of a story.  We also talked about the institution of slavery and how it is presented to younger audiences.  I’ve asked them how much should young children know about it, if at all?  Is it a privilege even to be able to decide when a child learns about slavery in the United States?  Then, we read.  Students carefully analyzed the words and pictures of “A Fine Dessert,” and while they determined that the story seemed fairly innocuous (it follows the making of a dessert, blackberry fool, over 400 years), they took issue with the way an enslaved girl and her mother were portrayed in the book and discussed better ways the illustrator could’ve drawn several scenarios in the slavery portion of the book. (For more information about the controversy around the illustrations in “A Fine Dessert,” see: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/07/books/a-fine-dessert-judging-a-book-by-the-smile-of-a-slave.html)  Students also considered the accomplishments of the enslaved and the feelings of those who were oppressed, particularly when looking at portions of “A Birthday Cake for George Washington.”  They had real difficulty grappling with the idea that someone was not allowed to choose their own path in life.  They wondered, “What is it like not to be able to aspire to be what you want,” “Were there ever any happy times,” and “Is it fair to portray someone as happy when they were oppressed?”

We switched gears a bit to study Mary Wollstonecraft and her writings about female education in the 1790s.  By reading both excerpts from “Emilie” by Jean Jacques Rousseau and excerpts from “A Vindication for the Rights of Women” by Wollstonecraft, students were able to grasp attitudes toward and about women in the 1700s and many girls in the conversation who normally are quite quiet during class were more vocal than they’d ever been before.  They spoke passionately about Rousseau’s ideas that women could not have an education because reason was “beyond a woman’s grasp” and struggled to understand that Wollstonecraft was demanding an education so that women could raise boys to be good future citizens.  They also made some interesting observations about how women are still seen as Rousseau saw them.  In the future, I’d also like to include the writings of Judith Sargeant Murray.

When we begin our Jefferson unit we plan on viewing Jefferson through the lens of slave owner as well as through the traditional lens of American history.  We’ll be reading and discussing “My Name is James Madison Hemmings,” which is about Jefferson’s son with his slave, Sally Hemmings.  It is a heartbreaking story in which Hemmings watches Jefferson play with his grandchildren, who are his blood relatives, but Hemmings has to pretend that Jefferson isn’t his father and also work as his slave.  I am wondering how students will react to this story.

Invisible founders are just as important as those we traditionally study year after year.  Because sources about these people are difficult to find, either at the level a teacher needs them for her students or because the sources don’t exist, I found that we needed to get creative in how we presented them to students.  While “rich white guy founders” cannot be denied as imperative factors in American history, we can also see them as they were, human and flawed, while opening our eyes to others’ stories to make the picture of American history complete.