On the United States' History Problem

In the words of Japanese politicians, the United States has a “history problem”. The contents of U.S. history courses do not accurately reflect the country’s actions as an imperialist power and its history of global violence. The fervent nationalism interwoven throughout the American population is built on a foundation of half truths and misconstrued representations of the country as the world’s sole beacon for freedom and liberty for all.

While imposing a true reckoning of the nation’s past on itself may not be politically feasible under today’s institutions, Akiko Hashimoto’s findings in The Long Defeat suggest that teaching students about their country’s wrongdoings cannot solve a country’s issues on the geo-political level or domestically. She finds that Japanese children have an idea that something went terribly wrong in Japanese history, but lack a firm grasp on the true extent of Japan’s war crimes. Hashimoto explains Japan’s tense political climate surrounding history and how it is taught in schools. Japanese children are less likely to feel proud of their nationality than their American counterparts. She explains these low levels of national pride as a product of the Japanese education system. 

If the United States were to embark on a mission to recognize its wrongdoings, how would history textbooks change? A reformed curriculum would have to engage in a historical narrative that explains the United States as a historical villain. How would kids respond to their new lessons? We might look to the Vietnam War and the domestic response within the United States as an example of how the country might engage in repentance for its wrongdoings. The anti-Vietnam War movement led to the most significant shift in American nationalist sentiment in at least the past century. Hashimoto visits this moment when in need of an American point of comparison to Japan’s collective memory of WWII. While schools in the United States usually teach events such as the My Lai Massacre and the Kent State shootings, they do not touch on the lasting impacts the United States had on the country and region as a whole. Similarly, schools might cover the United States’ involvement in South America, but they often do not enable students to understand the true scale of the damage it inflicted. The understanding of the United States’ history students gain in today’s American school system bears striking resemblance to what Japanese students learn about WWII.

In order to avoid replicating the shallow knowledge most Americans possess of the Vietnam War and Japanese have of their imperialist history, textbooks must tell history from the perspective of historical “losers”. An anti-American textbook might adopt many of the approaches taken in Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project. It would explain history from the perspective of Indigenous Americans who suffered from European imperialism, slaves in British colonies and the pre-Civil War United States, and South American countries who were destabilized by American imperialism. Such a textbook might echo Barry Schwartz’s writing on Abraham Lincoln’s legendary status in U.S. history, explaining his complex and shifting views on slavery.

Numerous obstacles stand in the way of such a program becoming a reality in the United States. Obvious critiques would point to instances such as WWII and ask how one could depict the United States as the villain. However, a textbook that uses a narrative that paints the United States as evil would not have to recognize Nazis as good. Nor would it have to suggest that FDR was worse than Hitler. The United States were on the winning side of the war. However, the country’s failure to respond to the Holocaust and its ulterior geo-political motives for dropping two atomic bombs on Japan show that it was not free from sin in the scheme of the global conflict. Recognizing these and scores of other crimes committed by the United States broadens our understanding of history; it does not limit it in the slightest.

Despite both countries having similar problems with their respective histories, Americans generally retain a misguided sense of pride in their national identity while Japanese often develop a vague sense of shame. Neither situation seems desirable. Is it possible to separate history lessons from national identity? Should teachers guide students towards a specific understanding of their country’s history or should they present facts in a seemingly neutral manner that allows students to reach their own conclusions? Although rational thought tells us to strive for the latter, it is not possible in a realistic school setting. Educators and their governmental regulators should accept the influence that they inevitably have over their pupils and teach them to critically evaluate the impacts of their governments’ pasts.

References

Hashimoto, Akiko. 2015. Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Japan. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press.

Hannah-Jones, Nikole, Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman, and Jake Silverstein. 2021. The 1619 Project: A New American Origin Story. London: WH Allen, an imprint of Ebury Publishing.