Collective Memory as a Source of Unity and Division
By Quin Moylan ’29
Collective memory is a story shared within a group of people that celebrates aspects of their culture and values important to the group’s identity. History is the study of the past that attempts to be objective and factual. [1] Oftentimes, collective memory will become simplified to resonate with people’s emotions and result in a collective memory that may be contradicted by the facts of history and lead to tension among different groups of people over what the truth really is. Rather than promoting a unified identity, collective memory may divide people.
Collective memory helps to form people’s identities and often brings people together. It is found in small groups like family or school, or big groups like political parties or a nation and may change over time and even ignore or contradict historical facts. [2] Collective memory is shared through education, symbolized in memorials and celebrated on holidays. In education, history is often taught in schools using textbooks that are scrutinized over the extent to which they convey one group’s collective memory or present actual historical facts.
The curricula and textbooks for schools in America are chosen by local educational boards or state governments, and these choices are the focus of debates about which or whose collective memory will be taught. Some of these textbooks have been criticized for teaching history using a “Western narrative” or through an “American lens”—a collective memory that focuses and justifies the actions of Europeans and then Americans in founding and building the United States into a world power and ignoring the impact on groups like Indigenous people, slaves, and those negatively affected by U.S. actions. The focus, for example, is on topics like the Revolutionary War and World Wars I and II that put the United States in a positive light, as America was on the winning side for a just cause. The books may skim over topics like the Vietnam War, Order 9066 during WWII, the treatment of Indigenous people, and the history of slavery and the Jim Crow era, which would make America seem negative. [3] Efforts to incorporate the histories of Indigenous people, slaves, and former slaves have been criticized. Recently, in Florida, teachers have been prohibited from teaching any material that may cause students to feel guilty about slavery. This prevents students from having a full understanding of the impact of slavery on people in America. [4]
Some critics of how history is taught in the United States highlight the use of a collective memory that true Americans are the descendants of the founders of the United States and the Constitution. In this memory, these “founders” were Protestant, English-speaking, and from northwestern European countries who founded a country based on shared values and culture. The history of the founding of the United States is more complex. In addition to the subjugation of Indigenous people and slavery, the founding of the United States involved people of different cultures, religions, and languages, who had been banished from European countries, learning to co-exist with each other to fight against England. The Constitution and Bill of Rights established protections for these differences as they ensured the strength of the country. [5] Some of the current political debate seems to argue that the increase in immigration ruins the cultural unity that America has. [6] This collective memory of a “unified American culture,” however, is not the actual history of America, which involves waves of immigration of people of different cultures and ideas. [7] This focus on “cultural unity” leaves out or minimizes the importance of certain events or occurrences and results in the factual history and collective memories of groups of people being ignored.
The United States is currently the most diverse it has ever been in its history. [8] The failure to promote a collective memory and historical facts that recognize the values and culture of many different groups will result in division and the inability to function as a democracy.
Footnotes
Henry L. Roediger, “Three Facets of Collective Memory,” American Psychological Association, Dec. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000938.
Roediger, “Collective Memory.”
Ella Santanelli, “OPINION | History Has Been Forgotten in the American Education System,” The Suffolk Journal, March 25, 2025, https://thesuffolkjournal.com/47172/opinion/opinion-history-has-been-forgotten-in-the-american-education-system/
Bianca Quilantan, “Ron DeSantis Upended Education in Florida. He’s Coming for Your State Next.” Politico.com, May 26, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/26/desantis-florida-education-record-00099037.
Leighton Woodhouse, “Opinion | the Right-Wing Myth of American Heritage,” The New York Times, October 21, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/opinion/trump-diversity-culture-founders.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vE8.CKAz.k9ZQ5j1DS_eR&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Ross Douthat, “JD Vance on His Faith and Trump’s Most Controversial Policies,” Interesting Times Podcast, The New York Times, May 21, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/opinion/jd-vance-pope-trump-immigration.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Leighton, “Opinion | the Right-Wing Myth of American Heritage.”
American Immigration Council,” The United States is More Diverse than Ever, in More Places than Ever,” American Immigration Council, September 23, 2021, https://data.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/en/census2020/
References
Benen, Steve. 2025. “Why JD Vance’s Concerns about Immigration and ‘Social Solidarity’ Ring Hollow.” MS NOW. May 23, 2025. https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/jd-vances-concerns-immigration-social-solidarity-ring-hollow-rcna208767.
Douthat, Ross. 2025. “Opinion | JD Vance on His Faith and Trump’s Most Controversial Policies.” The New York Times, May 21, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/opinion/jd-vance-pope-trump-immigration.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share.
Quilantan, Bianca. 2023. “Ron DeSantis Upended Education in Florida. He’s Coming for Your State Next.” Politico.com. May 26, 2023. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/26/desantis-florida-education-record-00099037.
Roediger, Henry L. 2021. “Three Facets of Collective Memory.” American Psychological Association 76 (9): 1388–1400. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000938.
Santanelli, Ella. 2020. “OPINION: History Has Been Forgotten in the American Education System.” The Suffolk Journal. March 25, 2020. https://thesuffolkjournal.com/47172/opinion/opinion-history-has-been-forgotten-in-the-american-education-system/.
The American Immigration Council. 2021. “The United States Is More Diverse than Ever, in More Places than Ever.” American Immigration Council. September 23, 2021. https://data.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/en/census2020/.
Woodhouse, Leighton. 2025. “Opinion | the Right-Wing Myth of American Heritage.” The New York Times, October 21, 2025.https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/opinion/trump-diversity-culture-founders.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vE8.CKAz.k9ZQ5j1DS_eR&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare.