This is an important question, and deserves discussion.  It is no accident
that the general level of historical knowledge in the US is extremely poor.
When historical education consists of teaching a string of events that have
no relation to the day-to-day reality of people's lives, people will
naturally consider history to be trivia that really doesn't need to be
bothered with.

How many people know why Labor Day is celebrated in the US, rather than May
Day?  If you know the answer to this, you've gone a long way toward knowing
why the average American's level of historical knowledge is so low.  

To quote Rosa Luxemburg, the famous German Marxist, "Historical
consciousness is an essential component of class consciousness."  The fact
is, a great deal of history has been deliberately suppressed.  Who knows
about the uprising of 1877?  Or the Seattle General Strike?  Who has heard
the names Eugene Debs, Emma Goldman, or Walter Reuther?  Until history is
taught in a way that emphasizes class structure and relations, and that the
contributions of ordinary people are important, rather than history as
something that is made by "great men", there will continue to be a lack of
interest in the general public in historical matters.

Andrew Hempe, CA
Archivist
Houston Metropolitan Research Center
Houston Public Library
500 McKinney St.
Houston, TX 77002
832/393-1654

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