History’s Forgotten Voices: Conversations for Equality’s Future discussion

Here’s something I wrote in the preface to History Waits to Be Heard:

“At school, history felt distant — a rigid list of kings and conquerors, wars and revolutions. Women were rarely mentioned, and when they were, it was as someone’s wife, mother, or muse. I assumed this was just how history was.
Only years later did I realize: history isn’t just what happened — it’s what we’re taught to remember.”

That realization stuck with me. I wasn’t trying to write a women’s history book — I just kept running into the same pattern:

Women’s contributions minimized or erased

Black history in Europe narrowed to slavery

Complex societal changes boiled down to a few big events

Even the story of Florence Nightingale was reduced to “the lady with the lamp,” leaving out her groundbreaking work in data and healthcare.

It made me wonder how many stories we’ve inherited that only show part of the truth — or none of it at all.

💬 So I’d love to ask:
Have you ever had a moment when you realised something you were taught in school… wasn’t entirely true?
Or when you discovered a piece of history that had been left out?

Let’s hear them. Big or small — those moments help all of us see the bigger picture.

— Darren