Education Secretary Linda McMahon bills her “History Rocks!” tour, where she leads students in cheering for America, as a nonpartisan celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday. But across the country, the program’s ties to a bevy of conservative organizations has fostered an unusual level of opposition.
At least four stops have been canceled — including one in Massachusetts, another in Alabama and two in McMahon’s home state of Connecticut — after parents, students and teachers objected to the visits. Stops in Wisconsin, New Jersey and Illinois have been met with protests.
There is no evidence that the events themselves are pushing a political message. But the America 250 Civics Education Coalition that sponsors the tour has produced ideological material and is composed of conservative and religious groups such as Turning Point USA, Moms for Liberty and the Heritage Foundation. It is led by the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump advocacy group. Liberal groups were not included, nor were several prominent nonpartisan civics groups such as Civx Now, an ideologically diverse coalition of more than 450 organizations.
“I just found it hypocritical,” Red Zellner, a senior at Murphy High School in Mobile, Alabama, said in an interview. “They tried to say their tour was apolitical while being very publicly supported by strongly political groups.”
After learning that McMahon was coming to Murphy High, Zellner contacted a local liberal group for help organizing a protest. Before the day was out, the visit had been canceled. McMahon traveled to another Alabama school instead.
The events typically include a short speech delivered by McMahon or another department official, along with a history quiz. Speeches provided by the Education Department and local coverage of the events suggest the events are a nonpartisan celebration of America and its origins.
“Let’s hear it for the greatest country on Earth, the United States of America!” McMahon typically says. The 250th anniversary, she says, is “a reminder of the courage and vision that built this nation.”
An Education Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said the department coordinates with the civics coalition but does not provide funding to it, direct its work or control its membership or activities.
“Some have tried to brand this tour as ‘radical,’ ‘dangerous’ and ‘partisan indoctrination.’ How absurd,” McMahon said in a statement. “What you see is not politics — it is a shared commitment to our nation’s story. It speaks volumes about certain voices in our society that they would seek to distort a celebration of America’s 250th anniversary and deprive children of this experience.”
Nonetheless, the partisan underpinnings of the program have been on public display.
In announcing the civics coalition behind the tour, the America First Policy Institute released a video starring McMahon that is a nostalgic cry for a lost past. A voice-over recalls a time when education was built on “faith, heritage, patriotism,” and photos show students praying in class and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. As the narrator bemoans the crumbling of “a great institution,” the screen flashes images including anti-war protests, flag burning, removal of a Christopher Columbus statue, the 1619 Project, President Barack Obama and a drag queen reading a story.
“Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary McMahon, that light will be restored to guide our students and our nation into a brighter American future,” the video concludes.
The promotions and the tour reinforce the idea that Americans should focus on celebrating all that is good about their country — a contrast to critics who say the study of U.S. history should center discussion of atrocities such as the nearly 250 years of enslaving Black people, and brutality and violence against Native Americans.
In addition, some of the “History Rocks!” events have been connected to partisan actors.
Members of the conservative partner groups sometimes help recruit schools to participate, an Education Department spokeswoman said. In Colts Neck, New Jersey, Matt Rooney, executive director of the state’s branch of the America First Policy Institute, celebrated a local “History Rocks!” event by posting a photo of himself with McMahon on social media.
And in Genoa, Illinois, McMahon and Erika Kirk, chief executive of Turning Point USA, both spoke to a conservative student group in front of a “History Rocks!” backdrop. McMahon’s speech included lines she uses in “History Rocks!” events. The Education Department official said Genoa was not a stop on the tour, but locally, the two wereconflated.
‘An unforgettable event’
On a Wednesday in January, school officials in Fairfield, Connecticut, wrote to families with the “exciting news” that McMahon would visit McKinley Elementary School that Friday. It promised to be “an unforgettable experience,” the message said.
Tracy Rodriguez was one of many parents who immediately lodged a complaint with Superintendent Michael Testani.
“This tour is publicly backed by right-wing extremist groups. I think it’s inappropriate to have that in our schools,” she recalled telling him.
Four hours after the first message to parents, the district sent a follow-up saying the event was canceled. Testani wrote that he had heard from “many families” who expressed concerns and said they were considering keeping their children home.
“The intent of this visit was never to bring politics into our school, but rather to highlight our community and participate in a broader national celebration,” he wrote. “We recognize, however, that this did not feel that way to many of our families.”
The Education Department tried again this month in Connecticut, this time at Thomaston High School. Again, there was pushback, this time from community members, teachers and staff. Superintendent Francine Coss wrote to school board members that she was canceling the event amid a “significant and growing level of concern from multiple directions.” There was also concern from local police that they could not manage a protest or significant media presence, she wrote.
In Sutton, Massachusetts, the request for a McMahon visit came to the district from Turning Point USA, Superintendent Caitlin Paget said in an interview. Paget said she responded that the district would not be involved with anything connected to Turning Point, the conservative group founded by slain activist Charlie Kirk. After the Education Department assured her Turning Point was not involved in the program itself, Paget said a school visit would be all right, but she nixed the assembly because she did not know the content. She said she also had concerns about the tour’s connections to conservative groups, including Turning Point.
After some back and forth, Paget said, the district was told that it would not be McMahon visiting but another official, who was unidentified. Paget said she needed to know who it would be. A few minutes later, she said she was informed that the event was being rescheduled. It never happened.
An Education Department spokesperson said the event was “postponed” because of weather concerns, but online records show there was no bad weather in Sutton that day, which Paget confirmed. A department official later visited a charter school in another part of Massachusetts.
‘This event has been divisive’
In Brookfield, Wisconsin, the “History Rocks!” event this month went forward despite a storm of protests, including two online petitions and a flood of emails to school board members. At a school board meeting the following week, parents lined up to register their concerns.
One parent said the sponsors of the civics coalition are “widely known for promoting politically and ideologically driven interpretations of our nation’s history.” Another questioned why any political leader was allowed to address students during class time.
Elmbrook School Board member Mary Wacker said she received about 110 emails within 48 hours of the event’s announcement — a torrent of feedback that, she said, is “unusual, to say the least.” She then noticed that one of the organizations in the civics coalition is affiliated with a political group that mailed postcards calling her a “dangerous liberal” when she ran for school board, and she called the superintendent to complain.
Wacker said she attended the event and found it inoffensive but also “very shallow.” She described the trivia questions as “kind of elementary” and said she doubts students learned anything that the school had not already taught them.
“The event itself was much ado about nothing,” she said.
But Sam Hughes, another school board member, said the “History Rocks!” visit was nonpartisan and the criticism was “based on misinformation.” The event, he said, showed “the community we could do something that comes from the federal government and not have a partisan bend to it.”
Ike Muzikowski was excited when he learned that McMahon wanted to visit Chicago Hope Academy, a private Christian school on the west side of the city, where he serves as president and principal. Then he started learning about the controversies the tour had engendered elsewhere. And students came to him, fearful that a senior federal official might bring immigration agents, too.
Muzikowski decided to hold a town hall meeting where students could express their views. The president of the Black Student Union spoke firmly against the visit, objecting to McMahon’s rhetoric on diversity and inclusion.
The principal decided to go forward with the event. Before the assembled recited the Pledge of Allegiance, Muzikowski said, “This is not to show loyalty to an administration or a president. It’s to the values of this country — free speech, liberty. We’re not saying the Pledge of Allegiance to an individual.”
He also noted that it was the first time students in his school had said the Pledge of Allegiance in years. McMahon later bemoaned that fact in one of her speeches.
For students, the event was optional, Muzikowski said. The Black student leader chose not to attend.
The post Protests and cancellations mar Trump administration’s America 250 tour appeared first on Washington Post.
