I grew up in MD and didnçt hear about the coal mine wars (1) until last year, which However, it could have been fairly important and impactful history for the region. However, I could have very well just not been paying attention.
From my wife the American education system only covers the parts where they did “good”, that’s not prioritization that’s deliberately selective rewriting of history.
Covering the war of independence and the civil war in huge detail but skipping the less palatable parts of its own history results in an huge portion of the country not understanding what the effected groups are complaining about.
Think: if you aren’t aware of the Tuskegee syphilis experiments or the difference in quality of treatment at black vs white hospitals you think black people are just being stupid for not trusting the medical establishment.
If you don’t know about things like the Tulsa bombing you think black people are being hysterical when they say the government wants to exterminate them.
How many Americans know that the Japanese internment camps resulted in many japanese Americans losing all of their assets: many (most?) didn’t get their homes back when they were released from imprisonment.
The purpose of history is to teach history, and selective coverage results in people having a functionally delusional view of other people’s experience.
To the extent that if you bring these things up people think you’re attacking America, when in reality you’re just trying to get people to avoid repeating past mistakes.
> From my wife the American education system only covers the parts where they did “good”, that’s not prioritization that’s deliberately selective rewriting of history
This is pretty common among other countries. A big one is Britain's Colonial history. It isn't part of school curriculum in Britain.
1.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_coal_wars