You’re right… I don’t believe we’re in any real disagreement, but I still do question the losses of heritage/knowledge we may be suffering due to the backlash of political correctness.

How Oprah made the list is entirely beyond my capacity to explain.

Valuation is necessary. Valuation at the expense of other essential figures is committing the same mistake from a different direction.

And did so far better than I did myself.

I was responding to your initial statement that seemed to focus the complaint on the amount of study as opposed to the inappropriate shift in valuation of people and the contributions.

The danger here is from what I call Affirmative Action history. Because courses did not emphasize women and minorities until after the 1960s, liberal education provides an overcompensation for that lack. In a 2009 classroom, much more emphasis is placed on Harriet Tubman than, perhaps, Benjamin Franklin. You may disagree with the idea that, in terms of history, Franklin was more important, but without Franklin, there is no Tubman. Without John Marshall, for instance, the Court cannot make policy as in the cases of Dred Scott, Brown v. Board, or Roe v. Wade, to name just a few.

Valuation is necessary. Valuation at the expense of other essential figures is committing the same mistake from a different direction.

It’s more than the amount of studies and the focus of studies. It’s the deliberate shift in how certain contributions to America are being taught to be valued.