Lincoln Assassination in schools

[L Verge]

I agree totally with Betty also. However, the textbooks that I used in the 1960s and 70s were largely published in the North, so there was a definite slant. I think it had been that way for one hundred years since the publishers were largely based in New York and Boston and were going to tell the side of the winner.

As for universal textbooks in the education systems of that era - no such thing. I actually served on some review committees for my county to determine which were the better textbooks to use. There was big business to be had in the sale of textbooks, so it was a highly competitive field for us.

The State of Maryland has held a statewide teachers' convention every October since the beginning of time, I think. One of the great benefits of paying to go was to walk the aisles of displays and receive free textbooks to help you "decide" which publisher got it semi-right.

As for more well-rounded portrayals of history, things did get better after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 brought about change. Of course, that depended on whether or not the teacher took the effort to tell well-rounded history. Sometimes it's a Catch-22 situation, however. The more angles of history that you teach, the more time it takes to teach it, and some things have to be overlooked in order to complete it all in one nine-month period.