Abstract
The American Pageant (TAP) is a high school United States (U.S.) history textbook that is recommended by the College Board for Advanced Placement U.S. history. It was originally written in 1956 by one Stanford historian, Thomas A. Bailey. Bailey believed that historical actors were white men in the public sphere, involved in politics and violence. He maintained that women and Black people were not, and could not be, historical actors. Bailey applied this historical philosophy to his works, including in TAP. This paper investigates the guidelines behind history textbooks in the U.S. and applies them to TAP. It compares three different editions of TAP from 1956, 1987, and 2020 to discover what changes were made or if a dead white man’s words still haunt the American classroom.
Advisor
Sene, Ibrah
Department
Education; History
Recommended Citation
Johns, Lucia B., "History not ‘Herstory’: How Dead White Men Still Haunt the American Classroom" (2026). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 13448.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/13448
Disciplines
Curriculum and Social Inquiry | Education | Secondary Education
Keywords
Textbook, History, U.S., American, Secondary School, Social Studies, Black Americans, enslaved people
Publication Date
2026
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2026 Lucia B. Johns