Tea Party Wants to Re-Write History Books to Give Positive Spin on Slavery

Did any of you see the passionate comments by GOP candidate Rick Santorum towards the end of the debate last night? He was answering the question about what impact religion would have on his work as president if he were elected. He talked about the nation's founding fathers and the fact that "God-given rights" were at the heart of the Declaration of Independence.

Santorum noted that 'God-given rights' can't be given away by the government. As he was talking I kept thinking to myself about the Africans in America at the time of the Declaration of Independence. I wondered what Santorum would say about the "God-given rights" of those men and women who were enslaved by our Founding Fathers? Did they have any "God-given rights"?

Now, I learn that there are some in Santorum's Republican Party who no longer want to be troubled by the inconvenience of our nation's history of slavery. There are some GOP (aka, Tea Party) in Tennessee who want to re-write the history books being used in our public schools to give a positive spin on slavery. [SOURCE]

These Republican (or Tea Party) activists say that the way textbooks are worded now can portray out founding fathers in a negative light.

"Slavery is of course portrayed in the textbooks nowadays I'm sure as a totally negative thing. Had there not been slavery in the south, the economy would've fallen," said Tea Party Activist Brian Rieck.

I guess one person's dehumanizing atrocity is another person's economic stimulus agenda.

Kyra Hicks: 'Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria'

My sister, Kyra Hicks, is a quilt scholar and expert. She wrote the definitive book on African American quilting a few years ago. Her second book is about Martha Ann Erskine Ricks, "a little girl from East Tennessee who shook the hand of Queen Victoria."

The story of that handshake and the quilt is extraordinary. The title of Hicks' new children's book, "Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria," with illustrations by artist Lee Edward Fodi, describes the life of Martha Ann in Liberia.

Kyra will be making a series of speeches as part of Black History month celebrations in Tennessee this month. She will be in East Tennessee from Feb 24-27 for a series of presentations sponsored by the East Tennessee Historical Society, Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Smokey Mountains Pearls Interest Group of AKA Sorority Inc. and the Knox County Mayor's Office. There is a great article on the series of events in the Knoxville newspaper.