Photo: Steve Gonzales, Staff
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Ronie Dean-Burren's son Coby found his geography book at Pearland High School referred to slaves as "workers." Her complaint on Facebook went viral.

Photo: Steve Gonzales, Staff
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A caption about slaves in a geography textbook distributed to 400 school districts in Texas will be corrected by the publisher.

Controversial excerpts from Texas textbooks

A viral Facebook post by a Pearland mom forces a major national textbook publisher to pledge to change their wording on the slave trade. 

The next Texas textbooks have long been the subject of controversy, as critics allege they misrepresent history. 
Click through out slideshow to see what your children read in McGraw-Hill's "World Geography" about important world events...
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Controversial excerpts from Texas textbooks

A viral Facebook post by a Pearland mom forces a major national textbook publisher to pledge to change their wording on the slave trade. 

The next Texas

"In 1763 France was forced to give up much of its North American empire to Great Britain. Conflicts soon arose between Native Americans and colonial settlers. Settlers arriving in the British colonies took the land of Native Americans. Loss of hunting and farming lands, combined with European diseases, reduced Native American populations and severely disrupted their cultures."

Later: "During the A.D. 1500s, Native American cultures flourished in the well-watered eastern timberlands, the vast inland plains, the western desert areas, and along the Gulf of Mexico. Adapting to these diverse environments, some groups raised crops—using scarce water for irrigation in desert areas. Others hunted for plants, small game, or buffalo. The coming of Europeans, however, brought major challenges to the survival of Native American cultures."
Photo: Buyenlarge, Getty Images
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"In 1763 France was forced to give up much of its North American empire to Great Britain. Conflicts soon arose between Native Americans and colonial settlers. Settlers arriving in the British colonies took the
McGraw-Hill's "World Geography" on the Civil War:

"Tensions between the industrialized North and the agricultural South mounted steadily until they erupted in the American Civil War in 1861. After four bloody years, the North triumphed. Slavery was abolished after the war and the country began rebuilding."

Later: "In 1861 Texas seceded, or withdrew, from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. During the Civil War, Texas contributed about 60,000 soldiers as well as large quantities of supplies to the Confederacy. In 1865 Union forces arrived in the state and carried out the freeing of all enslaved people. Texas and other Southern states were brought back into the Union."
Photo: Dylan Baddour
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McGraw-Hill's "World Geography" on the Civil War:

"Tensions between the industrialized North and the agricultural South mounted steadily until they erupted in the American Civil War in 1861. After four bloody

"Terrorism became a major concern of many Americans after September 11, 2001, when Islamist terrorists hijacked four passenger planes, crashing them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field. After such devastation, the United States launched a war on terrorism focused on Afghanistan and Iraq."
Photo: Marty Lederhandler, Associated Press
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"Terrorism became a major concern of many Americans after September 11, 2001, when Islamist terrorists hijacked four passenger planes, crashing them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a

"Texas’s many ethnic groups have enriched the state’s culture. Anglo Americans have had a major impact on the founding of cities, ranches, farms, and industries in the state. Some Hispanics are recent immigrants to Texas, but others trace their ancestry to Texas’s early days as a Spanish colony and later as part of Mexico."

"Today, Mexican food, arts, and celebrations are important aspects of Texas culture. Over the years, the Spanish-Mexican ranching heritage has blended with other European and American livestock practices to become Texas’s strongest cultural tradition—for example, Western boots, hats, and jeans are everyday wear for Texans today, and rodeo performances are a popular form of entertainment. African Americans have also enriched Texan culture through music, such as religious spirituals, work songs, the blues, and jazz."
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"Texas’s many ethnic groups have enriched the state’s culture. Anglo Americans have had a major impact on the founding of cities, ranches, farms, and industries in the state. Some Hispanics are
McGraw-Hill's "World Geography" on drought:

"Another problem is the growing water shortage crisis across the country. Of major concern is the projection that 36 states will face water shortages in the next several years. In 2012 alone, water shortages turned into full-on droughts across much of the United States, causing billions of dollars in crop and livestock losses. By September 2012, it was estimated that more than two-thirds of the continental United States had been caught in the worst drought the country had experienced in more than half a century."
Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images
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McGraw-Hill's "World Geography" on drought:

"Another problem is the growing water shortage crisis across the country. Of major concern is the projection that 36 states will face water shortages in the next
McGraw-Hill's "World Geography" on the drug war:

"Over the past few decades, drug cartels have come to control different regions of Mexico. New cartels have been forming or breaking away from older and larger cartels. These new cartels compete with old cartels for power and control of drug-producing territories. The result is internal warfare in Mexico. The cartels have increasingly incited street gun battles, massacres in the mountains, and other acts of violence and terror.

"The illegal drug trade is both an influential and dangerous part of the Mexican economy. Drug cartels often reinvest the money they make into their communities—both through private loans to small businesses and in the form of bribes to police and politicians. This makes them a powerful social and economic force. Many rural mountain communities have relied for generations on the poppy and marijuana fields, controlled by cartels, that support their families. The government has not been able to discourage the growing of these crops because no legal crop can match their cash value for these isolated farmers."
Photo: ALFREDO ESTRELLA, AFP/Getty Images
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McGraw-Hill's "World Geography" on the drug war:

"Over the past few decades, drug cartels have come to control different regions of Mexico. New cartels have been forming or breaking away from older and larger
McGraw-Hill's "World Geography" on recent events in Ukraine:

"In November 2013, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych abandoned an agreement that would strengthen trade ties with the EU and would instead seek closer cooperation with Russia. This announcement led to violent protests as many people felt the trade agreement would bring Ukraine back under Russian influence.

"These protests continued into 2014. As tensions and violence increased, Yanukovych fled Ukraine and an interim president was named. In the Crimean region of Ukraine, which has a majority Russian population, pro-Russians demonstrated to secede from Ukraine. Then the fears of many Ukrainians were realized as Russian troops moved into Crimea. They claimed to be protecting those of Russian descent from the interim Ukrainian government.

"Russian troops took over government buildings and cut off Crimea from the rest of Ukraine. Elected officials were ordered out of office at gunpoint and replaced with pro-Russia politicians. These new leaders announced a referendum to secede, a vote backed by Russian president Vladimir Putin who was unhappy that Ukraine wanted to strengthen ties to Europe. Although many consider it to be illegitimate and unconstitutional, the referendum resulted in Crimea becoming part of Russia."
Photo: Alexander Polegenko, STR
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McGraw-Hill's "World Geography" on recent events in Ukraine:

"In November 2013, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych abandoned an agreement that would strengthen trade ties with the EU and would instead seek

One of the nation's largest textbook publishers said it would replace the world geography textbooks of any school in the country after the mother of a Pearland High School freshman took to social media to protest the book's characterization of slaves as "workers," leading to a nationwide outcry.McGraw-Hill Education has been under fire for days since the parent, Roni Dean-Burren, posted a video on her Facebook page showing a map caption stating that the Atlantic Slave Trade "brought millions of workers from Africa to the southern United States to work on agricultural plantations." It was located in the book's immigration section.

The caption was sharply criticized for playing down the fact that African slaves were abducted and forcibly brought to the country under horrible conditions. The revelation reignited debates over how Texas approves its textbooks, which some called a politicized process that often whitewashes history.

"Every kid who reads that may think 'It's in the book, it's true, slavery was part of immigration,'" Dean-Burren said of the caption. "That's the harm. Now, you produce adults that think 'Well, slavery wasn't that bad, some slaves were happy.'"

Correcting language

The publisher's spokeswoman, Catherine Mathis, said Tuesday that it was correcting the language and would send out "stickers" of the corrected caption to schools that requested them. Alternatively, the publisher would reprint books and send them to schools that asked for new copies. The publisher did not have a timetable for completing the process.

Mathis said that while the textbook has a specific Texas edition, the caption was the same in the national edition of the book as well. Mathis said the publisher was not changing any other parts of the textbook.

"We are deeply sorry that the caption was written this way," McGraw-Hill Education President and CEO David Levin said in a statement.

"While the book was reviewed by many people inside and outside the company, and was made available for public review, no one raised concerns about the caption. Yet, clearly, something went wrong and we must and will do better."

Meanwhile, several Houston-area school districts wrestled with what to do with the geography textbooks.

Although the Houston Independent School District does not use the textbook as part of its instruction, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, the region's second-largest school district, does. Officials there said they were pulling the copies from their classrooms.

"We want to make sure that our kids are clear that this was not a 'voluntary, come to the U.S. to work' situation, but that it was indeed a forced situation to come here," said Linda Macias, the district's associate superintendent for curriculum, instruction and accountability. "We want to make sure that we are teaching geography and history correctly and factually to our students."

According to the Texas Education Agency, the textbook - titled "World Geography" - has been purchased by almost 400 districts in the state. The textbook has both a physical and online component, and districts don't necessarily use one or the other. Some of the Houston area's largest school districts - Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, Katy ISD, Conroe ISD and Pasadena ISD - use at least one component.

Text from her son

Many districts used the digital versions and were awaiting a revised caption from McGraw-Hill Education.

At Klein ISD, spokeswoman Judy Rimato said she had not been notified of any complaints from students about the textbook.

Klein uses a digital version of the textbook, one that would be updated automatically once McGraw-Hill corrects the caption.

"I think if our students ask about it, then the teacher and the class will have a conversation around that subject," Rimato said. "I don't know that there's any plans to bring it up if the students don't ask specifically about it."

The issue first became public after Dean-Burren received a text from her son that included a photo of the caption, an emoticon of a face with a sarcastic expression, and the message, "We was real hard workers wasn't we," Dean-Burren said.

She posted a picture on her Facebook feed of the caption last Wednesday, followed by a video a day later. By Friday afternoon, that video had 350,000 views, she said, and Dean-Burren was conducting media interviews and rallying people across the country who called for the textbook's recall.

Shortly afterward, McGraw Hill Education said it had reviewed the content and would correct the caption.

Dean-Burren said she had been a teacher at Pearland ISD for 11 years and a curriculum specialist at Dickinson ISD. She is now pursuing a doctorate studying social justice in urban education at the University of Houston. Issues of race, slavery and reading and writing had long been subjects of conversation in her household, which allowed her to effectively publicize the textbook.

"It happened in all the right ways," she said.

Dean-Burren said the responsibility is now with McGraw Hill Education to find and replace all of the problematic textbooks - schools should not be burdened in any way. She said she believed the publisher intentionally inserted the caption, a statement Mathis said was "utterly untrue."

Dan Quinn, spokesman for the Texas Freedom Network, which has long criticized the state's textbook adoption process, said the fact that the caption made it into school rooms showed the system's weaknesses: elected politicians responsible for textbook content.

'Politicizes textbooks'

The battle has repeatedly played out in Austin, with groups criticizing the process and the substance of the state's textbooks, including some playing down the role of slavery in the Civil War. The geography textbook was approved by the state board of education in November, when these tensions flared.

"Texas is notorious for the way it edits and politicizes textbooks - none of that has changed how the state board does its work," Quinn said. "With any luck, maybe this newest embarrassment will, but I'm not encouraged."

Thomas Ratliff, vice chair of the state education board, disagreed that the caption - which he did not defend - exposed flaws in the textbook adoption process. He does agree that the process needs reform, but said that with the volume of content and number of people reviewing textbooks, which he noted were open for public review, there are bound to be some mistakes.

"Folks are a little on edge and looking for something and they found it, and what I don't want is to make more out of this than it is," he said.