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U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, introduced the Native Histories and Cultures Education Act legislation to improve public education and understanding about Native American peoples and their histories.
The legislation aims to correct an ongoing problem of the lack of accurate Native American history being taught in the public education system throughout the United States.
Unfortunately, the education most students receive regarding Native histories and cultures is woefully inadequate. For example, nearly half of Americans say that what they were taught in schools about Native Americans was inaccurate and in most K-12 classrooms, students are not taught about Native peoples at all post-1900. Furthermore, teachers rate “history of Native American peoples” and “pre-Columbian American history and culture” as two of the worst subjects in terms of coverage and accuracy. These glaring educational deficiencies allow negative stereotypes and misconceptions to take hold and persist.
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