Prince George’s County Board of Education

14201 School Lane • Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772 • www.pgcps.org

Dear Colleagues,

` I am writing to you to give notice about a proposal I plan to introduce to the Board of
Edward Burroughs III
Vice-Chair
301-952-6239
edward2.burroughs@pgcps.org
Education’s Academic Achievement Committee a resolution to direct the committee
and the CEO to examine our current kindergarten to 12th grade curriculum. To
identify deficiencies and inaccuracies in the curriculum. To embed Authentic and
Unadulterated Black and Brown History throughout the PGCPS curriculum. To
determine the viability of adding Black and Brown History as a graduation
requirement. In addition, to hire an expert in Black and Brown history to aid in the
development of this curriculum.

Prince George’s County is the most affluent majority African-American community

in the nation. In addition, our school district is composed of over 80% students of
color. As a school system, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to teach
accurate, authentic, and unadulterated Black and Brown history to provide a quality
education for our youth, improve our community, expand trust in education and
fortify the mental well-being and identity of our students and educators

Throughout our history, School District curricula across our nation have served as
extensions of institutional and systemic racism by perpetuating whitewashed
information. These actions glorifies the historical actions of the American
government that were rooted in white supremacy such as invoking “state’s rights” to
defend the Confederacy, claiming that the American system of slavery ended in 1865,
or omitting the genocide of indigenous nations by European settlers and
governmental policy. This system of education does not represent the true historical
legacy of Black and Brown people, leading to the erasure of authentic Black and
Brown history in our schools and an assault on the identity of Black and Brown
students and educators. As examples such as, the dedicated focus on Martin Luther
King’s nonviolence and erasure of his struggles against poverty, imperialism, and
housing injustices. The erasure of Malcolm X’s contributions to the Black freedom
struggle in both the United States and the world at large. The absence of the role of
Black women, Black LGBTQ+ individuals, and the omission of Indigenous, Chicano,
and Asian American history and many more from the Civil Rights Movements and
other activism throughout American history. In addition, the notion that Martin
Luther King was popular before his assassination; and, perhaps most importantly, the
omission of the grave dangers that our ancestors faced while fighting for the most
basic of human and civil rights in our nation.

MISSION STATEMENT

To provide a great education that empowers all students and contributes to thriving communities.

Prince George’s County Public Schools

 Prince George’s County Board of Education
14201 School Lane • Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772 • www.pgcps.org

Our history must not be reduced to a handful of prominent African American leaders
and sanitized moments in history highlighted only during the month of February, and
we must be truthful to the accounts of American history.

American History courses and American society itself has perpetuated an infinite
loop of negative stories, television shows, and movies that unfairly stereotype
Africans, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and indigenous Americans. Those
images have inaccurately depicted white individuals as superior and depicted
Africans, African Americans, and all people of color as inferior as a means to further
justify, rationalize, and perpetuate a culture of white supremacy. These ideals are
harmful to the education of our youth and a threat to their identity and well-being.

Prince George’s County Public Schools has several school buildings named after
racist slave owners, such as Thomas Johnson Middle School and Gabriel DuVal
Senior High School, who upheld and maintained the inhuman and cruel system of
chattel slavery in our county, our state, and our nation. Schools named after
individuals that built their wealth and prominence by oppressing African Americans;
have majority Black and Brown students walking into them today. The Lansdale
Sasscer building in which we meet for this vote today is named after a staunch
segregationist who opposed civil and human rights for Black people and came from a
family of former slave owners in Upper Marlboro. The NFL team that is based within
our county bears that name of genocidal slur for our indigenous brothers and sisters.
The names bestowed upon our buildings of governance and education have deep
meaning and must be updated to reflect those who are represented and educated
within them.

Prince George’s County’s history itself is filled with a rich legacy of Black
Excellence, and we have living history with us in our community. Our students must
understand how people such as, Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry (Alpha Phi
Alpha Fraternity, Inc), helped build the Black middle class of our region, created jobs
and opportunities for Black citizens, and birthed the Black mecca of excellence that is
Prince George's County. Our students must also know that large portions of Bowie
started as a plantation. Now, in 2020, has its first black mayor in Timothy Adams (
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.), In addition, that the current Chief and Administrative
Judge of the 7th Judicial Circuit in Maryland, Sheila Tillerson Adams (Delta Sigma
Theta Sorority, Inc.), started off as the first black woman judge in the county's
history. Other stories such as, Delegate Arthur King was the first Black Delegate
elected outside of Baltimore City and was a prominent member of the Prince
George’s County NAACP. Our local legacy of Black excellence includes, but is not
limited to, all-time NBA talent Kevin Durant, legendary DeMatha coach Morgan
Wooten, and Wayne Curry, the first Black County Executive in American history.

MISSION STATEMENT

To provide a great education that empowers all students and contributes to thriving communities.

Prince George’s County Public Schools

 Prince George’s County Board of Education
14201 School Lane • Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772 • www.pgcps.org

Our students must learn how Prince George’s County has transformed itself from a
rural white enclave that voted for Alabama segregationist George Wallace in 1972
into the wealthiest Black majority county in the nation and a bedrock of support for
Jesse Jackson in 1984 & 1988 and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. Our state was
the birthplace of Black freedom fighters Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and
Gloria Richardson. The first Black woman elected to the State Senate in our nation,
Verda Freeman-Welcome, was a Marylander. Baltimore Congress of Racial Equality
Chairman Walter P. Carter organized desegregation demonstrations from Baltimore
to Ocean City. The first Black Congressman from Maryland, Parren Mitchell, was a
founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the first Black graduate of
the University of Maryland, College Park. The numerous Black inventors whom
invented necessities such as the air conditioner and the refrigerator. The Black
Americans, who bravely fought in World War II, made scientific advancements,
lectured in institutions of knowledge, and otherwise contributed greatly to the
advancement of culture, quality of life, and improvement of American society.

Our students must know that Black people have governed, and governed well, from
the dawn of Reconstruction following the Civil War, to the mayoral offices of Harold
Washington in Chicago and Marion Barry in DC, to the congressional offices of
Representatives Shirley Chisholm, Adam Clayton Powell, John Conyers, Barbara
Lee, and Ilhan Omar. Black freedom fighters such as Angela Davis, Kwame Ture,
Malcolm X, Shirley Chisholm, Adam Clayton Powell, Ella Baker, James Baldwin,
Dorothy Height, Fanny Lou Hamer, and countless others are essential characters in
the story of our history, as are the stories of Brown freedom fighters such as Dolores
Huerta and Cesar Chavez. The African continent, the place of origin for all people
and a recent area of emigration for many members of our community, holds a rich
legacy as well. In spite of several hundred years of colonialism, invasion, and a
sustained assault by European influence, African nations fought for their collective
independence and achieved it. As descendants of Africans, the stories of Kwame
Nkrumah of Ghana, Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, Nelson and Winnie Mandela
of South Africa, and Patrice Lumumba of the Congo hold great relevance for our
youth and our community.

Central, South American, and Caribbean nations, where many of our community
members hail from, have a strong history of producing artists, writers, scientists,
musicians, and more figures of inspiration in spite of colonization and domination by
the European powers. The stories of Simon Bolivar of Venezuela, Fidel Castro of
Cuba, and Toussaint Louverture of Haiti hold great relevance for our youth. These
stories of triumph in spite of systemic racism and oppression will instill hope and
raise the self-esteem of an entire generation, just as an accurate account of the truth
will make our students culturally competent and conscious of the rich legacy of their
ancestors. These stories are essential for our youth to understand their identity and
history.
MISSION STATEMENT

To provide a great education that empowers all students and contributes to thriving communities.

Prince George’s County Public Schools

 Prince George’s County Board of Education
14201 School Lane • Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772 • www.pgcps.org

Teaching real authentic Black and Brown history will help contextualize
contemporary events such as the historic Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act
of 2002 ( Thornton Commission) that led the way for the Kirwan Commission.
Understanding the history and relevance of the HBCU lawsuit filed to benefit four
state universities in Maryland and recent updates in voting rights for Marylanders
will help our students appreciate the tangible sacrifices of the generations before
them and help provide a roadmap for their current struggles in our society.
Understanding the history of their ancestors and how important history is to
understand the ongoing events of the world will serve direct educational and mental
benefit to our youth

We understand that our Black and Brown youth will never rise to their fullest
potential until they know their origins in the world and the society in which they live,
and we know they come from a rich legacy. One of the gravest casualties of the
system of white supremacy is to make Black and Brown people believe they are truly
inferior through an intricate system of indoctrination beginning with our schools, a lie
designed to maintain systems of colonialism and oppression. Proper historical
analysis will begin to undo the damage of Eurocentric education, which omits
essential narratives while trumpeting untrue propaganda, and begin to heal the mental
well-being of Black and Brown youth. Black and Brown youth must see themselves
in our curriculum and PGCPS should serve as this nation's model for culturally
sustaining pedagogy. This truth telling is particularly important while our nation is
governed by a President who has repeatedly attacked the very dignity and humanity
of Black and Brown people, denigrated the quality of the nations that our community
members hail from, insulted the largest City in our state, while still accepting support
from white supremacists. This is why I am asking you for your support in the passing
of this resolution.

Sincerely,

Edward Burroughs III

Vice Chair, District 8
Prince George’s County Public Schools

MISSION STATEMENT

To provide a great education that empowers all students and contributes to thriving communities.

Prince George’s County Public Schools