Rodney Pierce, an outspoken social studies teacher and historian, successfully submitted five applications to the state for historical markers commemorating black historical figures, events and organizations. Pierce has opposed efforts by the Republican-led General Assembly and others to restrict what he and his colleagues teach students about the nation’s history of racism.
Pierce, who teaches at Edwards Middle School in Rocky Mount, sees historical markers as a way to give students and others the belief that they can “change the world” despite their circumstances.
On Saturday, the fifth monument will be unveiled in the small town of Seaboard in Northampton County, honoring Nicholas Franklin Roberts, a prominent religious and educational leader of the late 1800s. Roberts is the great-grand- father of Bobby Scott, Virginia Congressmanwho will attend the NC Highway Historical Marker Unveiling Ceremony.
NC Newsline caught up with Pierce this week to discuss his passion for democracy, historical markers and students. Pierce’s comments have been edited for length and clarity.
Tell me about your work with historical markers and why you think they are important.
Well, my work with markers is a passion project. I am a history buff. When I started learning about things that were happening in my county (Halifax) that I hadn’t been taught in school, I thought one way to teach it was to introduce in class. So I did that. But you know, we forget a lot of things learned in class. Well, one way I teach students and the community is also through the use of historical markers, especially those that commemorate African American history in my county and in my region of North Carolina. History has empowered me and allowed me to not be fooled by people who say certain things because I know the story behind what they are talking about. The story has enlightened and empowered me and what I hope to do with the markers is enlighten people, empower them and encourage them. It is important that young people know that there are people from the same communities who did not have at their disposal the resources that they (young people) have today but who still managed to change the world for the better. They are capable of doing the same thing. For me, history is emancipation.
So you shared that you were a social studies teacher. How to explain democracy to students?
Democracy comes from Greek. THE DEMO part of it comes from demos, which means people and CRACIE part of it comes from kratos, which means power. So democracy is literally meant to be power to the people or power for the people. And so, I tell students that they have power because they have the right to vote at a certain age in this country and to elect the people who are going to represent them at the state, federal, and local levels. I tell them not to abuse this power and not to encroach on someone else’s power. This is truly about power to the people. And I want them to pay attention to this stuff.
I tried to teach students that they have a lot to say. We can say whatever we want as teachers, as school administrators, as journalists who cover politics, like you, but who are actually affected by these things on a daily basis more than anyone else? They affect children, their parents, their families, their communities. And so that to me is what democracy is really supposed to be: giving people the power to determine the conditions that affect their daily lives.
How do you assess the health of our democracy?
It’s definitely in decline. There is so much political polarization between Democrat, Republican, progressive or conservative, liberal or whatever terms you want to use. We’re very divided and that’s the crazy thing, because we like to call ourselves the United States of America. Sometimes we are very far from being “united”.
One of the reasons democracy is in decline is that we do not take into account the views of others. We only think about ourselves and we are all guilty of it.
And I think we’re in decline because we don’t take into account the impact of the policies or the decisions that are made. Decisions to expand Medicaid, to fully fund our public schools, to pay people a living wage, but to pay them a living wage that allows them to take care of their families, save money and make investments, have an impact on people’s lives.
I just think we don’t care enough about each other. I think that’s the problem, whether it’s because of gender, political party, race, ethnicity, religion, or any other label we use to classify and categorize ourselves. Because you don’t look like me, because you are not from the same community of people as me, because you don’t live where I live, I can’t sympathize with you. I’m guilty of this, because I’ve felt this way about different issues towards different groups of people.
You paint a rather bleak picture of the state of our democracy. You work with young people every day, so my question is: do you see signs of hope in them?
If they turn off their devices, yes.
I try to be realistic when I talk to them (young people) about the state of the world. I will always see hope in them because they don’t think like us. They see things completely differently and sometimes they tell you things you never thought about.
My own children do this with me. I will take a certain position when it comes to an issue, and they will bring up a different point of view that I have never considered. They don’t think like us and certainly don’t act like us, which gives me hope for the future. When the various human rights movements existed in our country, who were they led? They were led by young people. Listen to the young people. They are much smarter than we give them credit for.
What would you say to today’s leaders about the state of democracy and the steps they must take to preserve it?
I would ask them: do you really want to empower people? Do you really want to empower everyone so that things are fair, diverse, and inclusive, and everyone can have a voice at the table? Or do you just want to empower a certain group of people with whom you agree politically? Why make voting more difficult? This should be easier. Why not make Election Day a federal holiday?
We are going to have disagreements. We’re probably going to have some shouting matches. But all that matters in politics is that we have to reach consensus. It’s like a marriage. We’re going to be here, so if we decide to stay together, we have to get along.
