Back to the Future
Texas History Movies taught history the old-fashioned way.
Categories: History
By: Mark Boardman 11/01/2007
By the 1990s, though, traditional textbooks were replacing Texas History Movies in the classroom. But out of sight didn’t mean out of mind.
Comic book artist Jack Jackson thought about them. Texas History Movies had changed his life, influencing him to become both an underground cartoonist and a historian in the 1960s. A few years ago, he decided to honor his roots. Jackson aimed to produce a new version of the booklet. His drawings were more realistic and racial stereotypes were out, but he borrowed the slang and humor that were hallmarks of the originals.
Earlier this year, to great fanfare, his version of Texas History Movies was published by the Texas State Historical Association. Reviews of the book have been almost universally positive. Some seventh-grade teachers have already incorporated it into the curriculum. Sadly, Jack Jackson wasn’t around to bask in the glory—he died in 2006, just after finishing the project.
Jackson’s work, though, has a good chance of making a huge impact. Over the past decade, studies have consistently shown that students (and pretty much everybody else) in this country just don’t know much about history—in spite of all the bells and whistles of high-tech tools that are supposed to help the learning process. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to look to the past for answers on how to teach history.
So dim the houselights, raise the curtains and turn off the cell phones. Texas History Movies are about to roll again.
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