Local History Lovers Revive Patrick Henry’s Legacy In His Home County’s School Library

Like many citizens, he was dissatisfied with what he saw: little civil discourse, few efforts at honest persuasion, and politicians who are totally disconnected from the people they serve. Furthermore, the past few years have been full of cultural iconoclasm. The destruction of statues is a symptom of historical ignorance that finds its root in our classrooms. Teachers, meanwhile, continue to push the boundaries of what is acceptable for children to study, from racist views of history to pornography. Parents began noticing these trends during Covid as their children learned “social studies” at home, but communities remained disconnected from their historical roots.

The first time Walker read Kukla’s book, he was “refreshed” and decided to dedicate his newfound energy to more visibility for Hanover’s local Founding Father. Around the same time, school boards across the country were fighting parents over school library content and curriculum. Those two events converged in a unique way for Walker.
“Here in Virginia, a lot of people have lost sight of the fact that our state was kind of the granddaddy of the 13, and the teaching of history had been on a decline. … I went to school board meetings, and what I discovered is that an uneducated population can be fooled,” Walker said. “Why are our kids not getting this? We’ve got plenty of role models, but they’re not worthy of really following. The more I looked at it, we’re sitting here where our nation was birthed, we have a great story that needs to be told.”“The board was having an issue at the time where we were finding books that we didn’t care for because of pornographic material, so Oscar’s coming to me was the perfect time because we were already focused on books in the library.”

Walker and Axselle worked together to see if the local schools had any copies of the Patrick Henry biography.
“Guess what? Not one copy,” Walker said.

Patrick Henry: Champion of Liberty by John Kukla

“History now is being reworded to kind of fit the agenda or the curriculum, not to offend people but to censor more; not to tell all stories and all sides and let people make their own judgments,” Toliver said. “In high school, your brain develops and you’re more involved in politics, voting, and social media. People are starting to get phones and develop opinions, politics get brought up in school…”

Toliver said he loves his school and teachers, and he’s excited about the addition of apolitical historical accounts in the library.

“It doesn’t have to be either side, just learning the information and how to tell what is real,” Toliver said.
“There’s not enough time spent reflecting on the Founding Fathers in general in high school education,” Rector said. “There needs to be more awareness of what these men were giving up, there’s a lot of things they sacrificed in order to pursue liberty for everyone. We’ve got to remember that in this day and age where we get so comfortable and complacent.”

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