Lessons from My Mistake
The following column appeared in several APG of East Central Minnesota newspapers during late September, 2020, including the Morrison County Record.
Lessons from my mistake
Readers’ reactions to a recent column about a Minnesota Historical Society online exhibit ranged from “nicely done” to insisting that I’d included “a grave and misleading error.” Yes, Jay from Lakeville was correct that I made a mistake. As an educator and columnist, I’d like to apologize, correct and clarify what I wrote.
The column praised the Minnesota Historical Society’s new online exhibit, “Votes for Women.” The exhibit describes what led to and has happened after adoption of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
I gave the exhibit an “A” and strongly recommend it.
However, one reader accurately noted I had one sentence that was not correct. I wrote that the 19th Amendment “guaranteed that white women could vote.” The word “white” is not in the amendment. It reads: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
I should have written that the 19th Amendment helped make it possible for many American women to vote. As a project of the National Archives, National History Day and others points out, “ratification did not ensure full enfranchisement. Decades of struggle to include African Americans and other minority women in the promise of voting rights remained. Many women remained unable to vote long into the 20th century because of discriminatory state voting laws.”.
Kate Roberts, senior exhibit developer at the Minnesota Historical Society who worked on their 19th Amendment exhibit, agrees with both points. As she told me, the 19th Amendment “represented progress. However, many years of effort were required before some women were allowed to vote.”
Roberts explained, for example, that many American Indians were not considered citizens of the U.S. in 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified, so they were not allowed to vote. She also confirmed the National Archives statement that laws in some southern states prevented African American women (and men) from voting.
In preparing the previous column, I read a variety of sources. The PBS program “American Experience” was one of them. Their discussion of the 19th Amendment explained: “Native American, Asian American, Latin and African American suffragists had to fight for their own enfranchisement long after the 19th Amendment was ratified. Only over successive years did each of those groups gain access to the ballot.”
Reactions to this column remind me of what I’ve tried to do as an educator and parent. This certainly isn’t the first time I’ve made a mistake. What I hope students and readers will take away from this are several things:
- When you make a mistake, it’s important to acknowledge it.
- Making sweeping assertions about history or current events can be unwise. Whether it’s the 19th Amendment or the death of George Floyd, there’s a lot of complexity involved.
- There can simultaneously be several things that are true along with multiple interpretations. Take for example, reactions to President Donald Trump: There are multiple facts and many interpretations.
I’m not saying that truth is always complex. It is a fact that the word “white” does not appear in the 19th Amendment. My apologies for suggesting that this amendment only gave white women the vote.
But clearly the 19th Amendment did not, by itself, allow all women to vote. I’m encouraging an openness to nuance and complexity.
Joe Nathan, formerly a Minnesota public school educator and PTA president, directs the Center for School Change. Reactions welcome at Joe@centerforschoolchange.org
September 23, 2020 @ 8:12 am
I think one of the important things to acknowledge is that white women, in their effort to include southern women, shut out African American women from their movement….or allowed them to march at the back of the parades. That may have been realistic, but was certainly racist!
September 23, 2020 @ 9:06 am
Thanks for sharing your insights, Lonni.
September 23, 2020 @ 9:03 am
Joe,
Well-said.
All of us who write and publish need the reminders you cited below. When I am in doubt about a passage in my blog, I ask my wife, Ruth, to read my draft for typos, clarity and authenticity. Sometimes the latter is hard to verify, as opinions may differ. But, more often than I like, I have included a passage that’s very unclear and/or very wrong. Back to my writing post I go.
The important thing for us is our calling to contribute what we have learned in our careers, and passing it on. There are far too many journalists out there whose “facts” are “opinions.” I strive to avoid being one of them. So do you.
It takes courage to respond as you did.
September 23, 2020 @ 9:06 am
Thanks for your comment, Tom.
September 23, 2020 @ 12:32 pm
Joe,
Well said. Daily we see civility erode as we witness a “winner-take-all” mentality grow and rule the day. Ultimately, our election system enshrines that mentality. Bravery is vulnerability so thank you for not only admitting your mistake, but for modeling an apology. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-squeaky-wheel/201311/the-five-ingredients-effective-apology
1. A clear “I’m sorry” statement.
2. An expression of regret for what happened.
3. An acknowledgment that social norms or expectations were violated.
4. An empathy statement acknowledging the full impact of our actions on the other person.
5. A request for forgiveness.
Thank you, Joe.
September 23, 2020 @ 3:08 pm
Joe,
What you wrote makes us all realize the value of mistakes is the discussion that ensues generates what we need to know and use
September 25, 2020 @ 2:23 pm
Thanks, Malcolm. I am trying to model what I ask of othes.
September 25, 2020 @ 12:14 pm
what a delight to find someone, anyone in this day and age who admits a mistake…even a small one. In a day when it almost impossible to separate the “truth” from lies and distortions, how refreshing to find an apology for an error. And while Joe did miss the exacts wording of the amendment, he caught the reality on the ground spot on. So often the language in legislation and amendments are far different from the realities of day to day life. It would take slave in Texas years after the Emancipation Proclamation to be freed and then the message to slaves was to stay with their master and negotiate a wage for their work. You know how that worked out.
As a high school history teacher in Texas in the 1960, I worked hard to help students understand the importance and power of accurate facts, the power of truth. My classes had plateaus much like a frequent flyer program. to be eligible for an A grade, students had to study and issue and then get a “letter to the editor” in the city newspaper published. they had to attend a political or public speaker and identify an error, distortion or untruth. My students fanned out over Fort Worth attending all sorts of speakers looking for errors. In once instance, a student nailed his minister in the Sunday morning sermon and in another, my students confronted a speaker at a John Birch Society presentation that he went to the school board and the superintendent demanding that me and my students be held in check. On one occasion, I even delivered a class lecture that included a carefully placed miss information and then added that as a question on the weekly test. When the students challenged me that they had the answers correct, I explained what I had done. After that, they were careful to ask again and again, “is that correct? Where did you get that information”. I wanted the students to question authority, to question me, but most of all, I wanted them to question their own beliefs. To ask themselves: are my beliefs supported my facts? where did my beliefs come from. Remember, this was during the 1960s…and there was racism all a round: segregated schools, colored water fountains, and black families were only admitted to the City Zoo one day each year on Juneteenth. In the current atmosphere where knowledge and science is held in such disdain, hats off to Joe for being honest and owning up to a small error.
September 25, 2020 @ 2:25 pm
Bob, thanks for your creativity, courage and decades of commitment to young people, more learning and better schools. Thanks for your gracious words. As noted in response to others, I am trying to model what I ask of others.