| The basic problem of this study was to determine if it could be demonstrated that distortion or omission of information about black Americans occurs in selected American history textbooks, and if it could be further demonstrated that such distortion or omission changed over the time period from 1965 to 1980.;Seventeen American history textbooks were selected for examination. The two instruments used to examine these texts were the Garcia-Armstrong Matrix System for Textbook Analysis by Dr. Jesus Garcia and Dr. David G. Armstrong, and the Council on Interracial Books for Children's African American Textbook Checklist.;The findings indicated that all seventeen textbooks exhibited evidence of distortion and omission because none obtained the highest possible score when measured by the African American Textbook Checklist.;Other findings were concerned with the results of the comparison between and among the texts published in the 1960s and the 1970s. These findings indicated that there had been changes in the presentation of information about black Americans based upon the different scores obtained when measured by the African American Textbook Checklist, and the changes in the percentages of sentences rated as active, passive, and neutral, and those sentences which compared the status of black Americans to that of other named racial groups as measured by the Garcia-Armstrong Matrix System for Textbook Analysis.;The purpose of this study was to examine the portrayal of black Americans in American history textbooks utilized in the Philadelphia public senior high schools from 1965 to 1980 to see if there was distortion or omission of information about black Americans, and to determine if any changes had occurred in the presentation of this information.;The significance of this study is its call for the devotion of more realistic attention to the presentation of information about black Americans in American history textbooks. |
