A satirical paper of record tracking America's accelerating war on its own history. Real numbers. Fake bylines.https://banhistory.com/en-ushttps://banhistory.com/gazette/alabama-high-school-renames-jackie-robinson-field-field/https://banhistory.com/gazette/alabama-high-school-renames-jackie-robinson-field-field/ Huntsville’s Lee-Calhoun High School athletic department announced Friday that Jackie Robinson Memorial Field, dedicated in 1997, will henceforth be known simply as “Field.” Athletic director Curt Tipton, 53, described the change as “streamlining” and noted that the new name was “easier to say, especially in a hurry.”…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/american-history-age-250-of-various-causes/https://banhistory.com/gazette/american-history-age-250-of-various-causes/ American History, of no fixed address, passed quietly on Tuesday afternoon following a brief school board meeting in suburban Ohio. It was 250. Survivors include an aging stack of textbooks in a storage unit in Pennsylvania, several retired teachers who would prefer not to be named, and a documentary series no one has…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/beloved-school-librarian-34-survived-by-empty-reading-corner/https://banhistory.com/gazette/beloved-school-librarian-34-survived-by-empty-reading-corner/ Hannah Reinholt, 34, of Birmingham, passed peacefully into the private sector on Friday after a brief and pointed exchange with a school board member regarding the picture book “Last Stop on Market Street.” Reinholt, who held a master’s in library science and was known for the hand-lettered sign reading “I Will Find Y…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/california-district-removes-cesar-chavez-from-curriculum-cites-concerns-he-organized/https://banhistory.com/gazette/california-district-removes-cesar-chavez-from-curriculum-cites-concerns-he-organized/ The Kern County Union School District voted 4–3 Tuesday to remove the United Farm Workers and labor organizer Cesar Chavez from its 5th-grade social studies curriculum, with board member Trent Macklin-Vasquez, 48, expressing concerns that the unit "encourages students to organize, which is something they could, in the…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/florida-curriculum-committee-replaces-tulsa-race-massacre-with-worksheet-about-tulsa-being/https://banhistory.com/gazette/florida-curriculum-committee-replaces-tulsa-race-massacre-with-worksheet-about-tulsa-being/ The Florida Department of Education’s standards review committee voted Wednesday to remove the 1921 Tulsa race massacre from its approved 11th-grade U.S. history materials, replacing the unit with a single-page worksheet titled “Tulsa: A Fine Town, Geographically Speaking.” The new worksheet contains seven fill-in-the…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/georgia-school-board-votes-6-1-to-ban-reconstruction-calling-it-a-little-heavy-for-a-tuesd/https://banhistory.com/gazette/georgia-school-board-votes-6-1-to-ban-reconstruction-calling-it-a-little-heavy-for-a-tuesd/ The Bibb County Unified School Board voted 6–1 Tuesday evening to remove all references to the Reconstruction era from its 8th-grade U.S. history curriculum, citing concerns the material was “a little heavy for a Tuesday” and “honestly kind of a bummer to read after dinner.” The motion, introduced by board member Marc…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/high-school-football-coach-bans-players-from-kneeling-standing-or-acknowledging-the-anthem/https://banhistory.com/gazette/high-school-football-coach-bans-players-from-kneeling-standing-or-acknowledging-the-anthem/ Frisco Memorial High School head football coach Ron Vasek, 47, announced a new pre-game policy Tuesday requiring players to remain “in a posture of total neutrality” during the national anthem, defined as “not kneeling, not standing, not sitting, and not appearing to have feelings about it one way or the other.” Playe…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/how-do-you-feel-about-bayard-rustin-being-removed-from-the-curriculum/https://banhistory.com/gazette/how-do-you-feel-about-bayard-rustin-being-removed-from-the-curriculum/ **Curt Berenstain, 58, Regional Sales Manager, Akron, OH.** "I don't know who that is, which I'm now realizing might be the point. Don't print that. Actually, print that. I don't care anymore."…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/how-do-you-feel-about-the-lavender-scare-being-removed-from-the-curriculum/https://banhistory.com/gazette/how-do-you-feel-about-the-lavender-scare-being-removed-from-the-curriculum/ Trent Holsapple, 44, Insurance Adjuster: “I don’t know what that is and that’s how I know it’s working.”…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/i-read-one-1-page-of-history-and-now-i-have-opinions-ama/https://banhistory.com/gazette/i-read-one-1-page-of-history-and-now-i-have-opinions-ama/ Friends, last night I read a single page of a book I found in my mother-in-law’s basement, and I have been transformed. The page, which I believe was page 217 of something called “A People’s History of,” contained several sentences, of which I read approximately two. I am now prepared to debate any historian, living o…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/idaho-removes-chinese-exclusion-act-from-ap-history-says-it-sounds-mean-when-you-say-it-ou/https://banhistory.com/gazette/idaho-removes-chinese-exclusion-act-from-ap-history-says-it-sounds-mean-when-you-say-it-ou/ The Idaho State Board of Education voted Wednesday to remove the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act from its Advanced Placement U.S. History framework, with board member Reggie Bumstead-O'Hare, 61, explaining that the law's name "sounds mean when you say it out loud, and we don't really need that." The 61-year federal ban on …Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/iowa-bill-would-require-teachers-to-present-both-sides-of-whether-the-earth-is-round/https://banhistory.com/gazette/iowa-bill-would-require-teachers-to-present-both-sides-of-whether-the-earth-is-round/ Iowa State Sen. Bethany Hoeger-Linn, 49, introduced legislation Monday requiring public school teachers to “present both sides” of any topic students or parents find “contested,” with no clarification offered as to what would qualify a topic as contested. Asked for examples, Hoeger-Linn cited “the Civil War, the moon,…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/kansas-district-replaces-black-history-month-with-american-history-month-but-faster/https://banhistory.com/gazette/kansas-district-replaces-black-history-month-with-american-history-month-but-faster/ Shawnee County’s Unified School District 437 announced Tuesday that Black History Month will be replaced beginning in February with a new observance titled “American History Month, But Faster,” a 14-day program in which the entire span of U.S. history from 1492 to the present will be covered in a single PowerPoint of …Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/lawmaker-introduces-bill-banning-use-of-word-context/https://banhistory.com/gazette/lawmaker-introduces-bill-banning-use-of-word-context/ Louisiana State Rep. Earl Boudreaux, 61, introduced legislation Wednesday that would prohibit the use of the word “context” in any K-12 classroom, public library, or municipal meeting within state lines. Boudreaux, who described the word as “fancy” and “the kind of thing somebody says right before they tell you someth…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/library-in-indiana-defunded-for-owning-too-many-of-the-books/https://banhistory.com/gazette/library-in-indiana-defunded-for-owning-too-many-of-the-books/ The Elkhart County Public Library system had its annual budget reduced by 71 percent this week after a county commissioner’s audit determined the system was in possession of “too many of the books.” Commissioner Roy Helmsdorfer, 62, described the holdings as “frankly, a lot,” and said the library’s collection of 412,0…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/local-bookstore-owner-reports-booming-sales-of-books-she-is-not-allowed-to-mention/https://banhistory.com/gazette/local-bookstore-owner-reports-booming-sales-of-books-she-is-not-allowed-to-mention/ Asheville bookseller Linnea Kowalczyk, 41, reports a 340 percent year-over-year increase in sales of titles she “is not technically allowed to recommend out loud anymore,” following the passage of a state law restricting in-store promotion of certain works. Kowalczyk, owner of Margin Notes Books on Lexington Avenue, h…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/local-man-defeats-civil-rights-movement-by-closing-one-tab/https://banhistory.com/gazette/local-man-defeats-civil-rights-movement-by-closing-one-tab/ In a feat of personal discipline previously thought impossible, Dan Gainey, 66, a retired HVAC estimator whose reading list this year consists of one email forward and the back of a Honey Nut Cheerios box, has reportedly resolved sixty years of unfinished American business by closing a single browser tab. The tab, whi…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/megachurch-pastor-calls-for-ban-on-books-containing-long-sentences/https://banhistory.com/gazette/megachurch-pastor-calls-for-ban-on-books-containing-long-sentences/ Pastor Wendell Croy, 59, of Cornerstone Family Worship Center in Greenville, called Sunday for the removal of any school library book containing “sentences that go on for more than a comfortable length of time.” Croy, addressing a congregation of approximately 2,200, defined a comfortable sentence as “between four and…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/missouri-ag-subpoenas-list-of-every-library-book-checked-out-in-2023/https://banhistory.com/gazette/missouri-ag-subpoenas-list-of-every-library-book-checked-out-in-2023/ Missouri Attorney General Carter Brillhart, 52, issued a subpoena Monday demanding that all public libraries in the state produce a complete list of every book checked out in calendar year 2023, including the names, ages, and home addresses of borrowers. Brillhart, who declined to specify the purpose of the request, d…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/mom-successfully-bans-book-she-wrote/https://banhistory.com/gazette/mom-successfully-bans-book-she-wrote/ Naperville mother and self-published author Kelli Brustmann, 38, successfully petitioned the District 203 school board Tuesday to remove her own 2019 memoir, “My Year of Honest Living,” from the high school library, citing “language I now regret” and “a chapter about my divorce I had honestly forgotten was in there.” …Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/new-curriculum-refers-to-trail-of-tears-as-a-group-walk/https://banhistory.com/gazette/new-curriculum-refers-to-trail-of-tears-as-a-group-walk/ The Oklahoma State Board of Education approved revised 5th-grade social studies materials Thursday that reclassify the forced removal of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations as “a group walk undertaken for various reasons.” The new 80-word unit, which replaces an earlier 11-page chapter, en…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/new-florida-standards-describe-civil-war-as-a-disagreement-between-friends/https://banhistory.com/gazette/new-florida-standards-describe-civil-war-as-a-disagreement-between-friends/ The Florida Department of Education’s updated 8th-grade benchmarks describe the American Civil War as “a four-year disagreement between two regions that loved each other very much but were going through something.” The new framing, approved by a working group of seven, removes references to slavery as a cause of the c…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/new-hampshire-district-cuts-suffrage-unit-says-students-already-know-women-can-vote/https://banhistory.com/gazette/new-hampshire-district-cuts-suffrage-unit-says-students-already-know-women-can-vote/ The Rockingham County Cooperative School District voted Monday to eliminate its 11th-grade unit on the American women's suffrage movement, citing concerns that the content was "redundant," given that, according to board chair Stewart Pelkey-Loomis, 57, "the women in question already got what they wanted." The eight-we…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/new-jersey-district-removes-triangle-shirtwaist-fire-from-curriculum-calls-it-mostly-a-bui/https://banhistory.com/gazette/new-jersey-district-removes-triangle-shirtwaist-fire-from-curriculum-calls-it-mostly-a-bui/ The Bergen County Cooperative School District voted 5–2 Tuesday to remove the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire from its 10th-grade U.S. history curriculum, with board member Doug Vandervort, 49, describing the event as "mostly a building code issue" and "the kind of thing OSHA pretty much handled later, from what…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/obituary-beloved-local-librarian-forced-out-for-reading/https://banhistory.com/gazette/obituary-beloved-local-librarian-forced-out-for-reading/ Marjorie Stensgaard, 61, master of library science and beloved keeper of the Escambia County Public Library's reference desk for 27 years, has been forced into early retirement after a patron observed her reading a book on her lunch break. The book, since classified, was reportedly "a regular-sized hardcover with a du…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/obituary-the-word-systemic-1971-2026/https://banhistory.com/gazette/obituary-the-word-systemic-1971-2026/ The word "Systemic," 55, of the American English language, passed quietly Tuesday after a brief but pointed memo from a state attorney general. A working adjective most of its life, Systemic is survived by the words "individual," "personal responsibility," and "a few bad apples," all of whom were present at the bedsid…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/ohio-teacher-fired-for-mentioning-year-1965-out-loud/https://banhistory.com/gazette/ohio-teacher-fired-for-mentioning-year-1965-out-loud/ Westerville North High School U.S. history teacher Greg Halverson, 39, was placed on indefinite administrative leave Monday after a student reported that Halverson had “said a year” during fifth period. The year in question, 1965, was uttered during what Halverson described as “a normal sentence about a thing that hap…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/pre-roe-reproductive-history-reclassified-as-adult-content-by-apple-google-and-three-state/https://banhistory.com/gazette/pre-roe-reproductive-history-reclassified-as-adult-content-by-apple-google-and-three-state/ A coordinated content-moderation update rolled out Wednesday across Apple Books, Google Play, and the public library catalog systems of Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Idaho now classifies all materials describing American reproductive history prior to 1973 as "adult content," requiring users to verify their age with a gover…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/pta-mom-demands-removal-of-anne-franks-diary-citing-real-downer-ending/https://banhistory.com/gazette/pta-mom-demands-removal-of-anne-franks-diary-citing-real-downer-ending/ Local mother Tammy Birkenshaw, 47, addressed the Palm Beach County school board Tuesday to formally request the removal of “The Diary of a Young Girl” from middle school reading lists, citing what she described as a “real downer ending” and “honestly, just a lot.” Birkenshaw, who clarified she had read “most of the fi…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/school-board-member-says-hes-not-banning-books-just-making-them-harder-to-get/https://banhistory.com/gazette/school-board-member-says-hes-not-banning-books-just-making-them-harder-to-get/ Westmoreland County school board member Glenn Trasker, 58, clarified at Tuesday’s meeting that the board is “absolutely not banning books,” but is instead moving 1,200 titles into a locked room behind the boiler in the basement of a closed elementary school in the next county. “Anyone can check them out,” said Trasker…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/school-librarian-29-departs-for-the-trader-joes-she-once-walked-past/https://banhistory.com/gazette/school-librarian-29-departs-for-the-trader-joes-she-once-walked-past/ Allison Reinhold, 29, master of library science and beloved curator of the West Columbus Middle School library’s graphic novel section, has resigned her post effective immediately and accepted a position stocking dairy at a regional Trader Joe’s. Reinhold, who in three years guided 1,400 students through the Dewey Dec…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/should-children-learn-about-the-triangle-shirtwaist-fire/https://banhistory.com/gazette/should-children-learn-about-the-triangle-shirtwaist-fire/ **Dale Pruchnik, 67, Retired, Mesquite, TX.** "If a building burned, a building burned. That's a fire department issue. I'm not a fire department. Why are you on my porch again."…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/should-schools-teach-about-redlining/https://banhistory.com/gazette/should-schools-teach-about-redlining/ Cheryl Antonacci, 51, Marketing Coordinator: “I just don’t think kids today need to be hearing about what their grandparents may or may not have done with a map. We had maps. Maps were everywhere. It was a map situation.”…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/smithsonian-affiliate-removes-bayard-rustin-panel-after-single-email-from-state-legislator/https://banhistory.com/gazette/smithsonian-affiliate-removes-bayard-rustin-panel-after-single-email-from-state-legislator/ A Smithsonian-affiliated regional history museum in Richmond removed its standing panel on civil rights organizer Bayard Rustin from public display Monday morning, less than four hours after receiving a single email from State Del. Wyatt Crouse-Hinrichs, 44, describing the panel as "two things at once, which is, you k…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/south-dakota-standards-quietly-drop-indian-boarding-school-history-cite-tone/https://banhistory.com/gazette/south-dakota-standards-quietly-drop-indian-boarding-school-history-cite-tone/ The South Dakota Department of Education's revised social studies framework, published Monday with no press release, removes all references to the federal Indian boarding school system from grades 4 through 12, replacing the unit with a one-paragraph entry titled "Schooling On The Plains, Generally." Department spokes…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/state-legislator-introduces-bill-requiring-all-mentions-of-slavery-to-be-followed-by-but-i/https://banhistory.com/gazette/state-legislator-introduces-bill-requiring-all-mentions-of-slavery-to-be-followed-by-but-i/ Tennessee State Rep. Cody Vannoy, 44, introduced HB-2117 on Monday, a measure requiring that all classroom references to American chattel slavery be immediately followed by the phrase “but in fairness, it was a different time.” The bill, which has 23 co-sponsors, also mandates that teachers pause for “a respectful thr…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/substitute-teacher-reads-aloud-from-approved-textbook-is-now-a-person-of-interest/https://banhistory.com/gazette/substitute-teacher-reads-aloud-from-approved-textbook-is-now-a-person-of-interest/ Sarasota County substitute teacher Mireille Vandersluis, 28, has been named a person of interest by district officials after reading aloud, verbatim, from a state-approved 7th-grade social studies textbook on Wednesday. The passage, which described the Japanese American internment of 1942 in three sentences and was fo…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/texas-parent-files-412th-book-challenge-admits-she-hasnt-read-any-of-them-yet/https://banhistory.com/gazette/texas-parent-files-412th-book-challenge-admits-she-hasnt-read-any-of-them-yet/ Mesquite resident Brittany Lankford, 43, filed her 412th formal book challenge with the Mesquite Independent School District this week, requesting the immediate removal of “The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963,” a YA novel about a Black family driving south during the Civil Rights era. When pressed by a reporter, Lankfor…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/texas-textbook-revision-removes-climate-science-replaces-it-with-single-sentence-the-weath/https://banhistory.com/gazette/texas-textbook-revision-removes-climate-science-replaces-it-with-single-sentence-the-weath/ The Texas State Board of Education voted 9–5 Thursday to remove approximately ninety pages of climate science content from its approved 9th-grade Earth Science curriculum, replacing the affected chapters with a single declarative sentence reading "The weather has always done that, and frankly, it is doing it now." The…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/virginia-district-replaces-stonewall-unit-with-single-sentence-about-bricks/https://banhistory.com/gazette/virginia-district-replaces-stonewall-unit-with-single-sentence-about-bricks/ Henrico County Public Schools updated its 10th-grade social studies guide Monday, condensing its three-day unit on the 1969 Stonewall uprising into a single sentence: “In June 1969, in New York, there was a building made partly of bricks.” The revised guide, approved by a 5–2 vote, replaces previous content on the Mat…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://banhistory.com/gazette/what-is-your-reaction-to-the-new-state-policy-of-teaching-the-civil-war-as-a-disagreement-/https://banhistory.com/gazette/what-is-your-reaction-to-the-new-state-policy-of-teaching-the-civil-war-as-a-disagreement-/ **Marcia Pelletier, 54, School Board Member, Bibb County, GA.** "I think it's lovely. My grandmother used to say you catch more flies with honey, and honestly, that's all the Civil War really needed."…Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT