Woodrow Wilson Consensus History

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Consensus history focuses on unity and celebration within history and appears in historical writing as a sort of glorified version of the past. However Consensus history has multiple glaring faults despite its optimistic appearance. The emphasis on unity prevents a wider variety of groups to be included in the narrative instead focusing on a singular perspective resulting in “tunnel vision.”(p. 53) Consensus history is also centered on history being truth or factual which causes a lack of critical thinking, arguments and interpretation of historical causes and effects and allows very little progression of the scholarship as a whole. To say it is an inaccurate form of history would not be entirely fair but it is certainly a side of history that…show more content…
Woodrow Wilson was among these consensus historians and began writing as professionalism entered the field in the 18th century. In Wilson’s writing it is unmistakable that he belongs to the consensus group as he fails to accurately portray the English arrival on the North American continent by neglecting Native American-European interaction completely. (p.34) He was also guilty of misrepresenting African-American slavery and even freemen’s attitude following the Civil War revealing his lack of intensive research and representation of multiple perspectives. (p.35, 36) Wilson’s writing and Wilson himself could be simply considered a product of the time, as there would no mistaking a racial undertone in the country during the period, however he made no move to progress the scholarship outside of the white, male portrayal and therefore would be thrown in with the other historians who were practicing consensus history under the guise of refinement and…show more content…
Among these new and diverse historians was Gerda Lerner a female historian who wrote women’s history in the 1970s and helped to pioneer the historical scholarship of women. Lerner was among the new participants of the profession emerging along with other diverse writers and historians and her work in the profession not only helped to pave a path towards gender studies in history but also altered “the way the profession treated women.” FOONOTE. Her involvement in the profession represented an enthusiasm for New history’s introduction to inclusionary scholarship and helped to pave the way for many women’s studies historians after

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