DICCIONARIO DE JERARQUIA

The topic of teaching “racialized” content came up for a couple of different

reasons. Sometimes, as was the case with Scott and Helene, it was because they thought

they needed to teach “racialized” content in order to have conversations about race in the

classroom (and in order for me to have something to observe). At other times, as with

Cara, teachers actually joined the inquiry group to get help thinking about how to teach

“racialized” content that was given to them as part of the curriculum. Whatever the

motivation, the topic led to multiple other questions that will be explored here.

Who am I to teach about oppression?

When Helene and her second grade team tried to find ways to intentionally

diversify their curriculum, they did so by introducing a biography unit in which the

biographies were about people of color, notably Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Nelson

Mandela. Early on Helene started to question whether they should focus so much on

oppression and resistance. She wondered, “Does it really make sense to be reading this?

Is this really helpful? Or am I like teaching them about injustice?” She wondered

whether it was age appropriate to learn so much about hatred and she said that if she had

known more about anti-Semitism as a child, she thinks it would have been really hurtful

In spite of the fact that they had such different classrooms (Helene’s classroom

was about 40% Black, 55% White and 5% Asian American while Cara’s classroom was

all Black), Cara and Helene ran into similar stumbling blocks. They realized that there

was so much missing from the version of history that they had been taught. Helene

asked:

What about Asian Americans? And what were they doing at this time? And Indian Americans? And Latinos? Were they allowed to eat at the

counters? Were they not? It made me wonder. And I didn’t even know the answer and so I didn’t even want to bring it up with the kids. But it was such a Black and White issue. And, it made me feel like, ok, I need to learn more. And…I don’t know, it seems like it’s so Black and White, so often. And not, without other perspectives.

Cara seemed to feel similarly insecure about the aspects of the Civil Rights Movement

that she did not know. Kids asked her questions that she did not know the answers to,

such as, “If you were biracial, where did you sit?” Not knowing those answers

contributed to a feeling of inauthenticity as a teacher of “racialized” content.

In defense of Whiteness

Both Helene and Cara also found themselves qualifying their statements about the

racism in the Civil Rights Movement. They both found themselves questioning the value

of teaching students about hate and prejudice.

Because you know teaching that people who spray kids, spray kids with hoses and dogs on them - How good would it be that you believe that any person would be that hateful? So, so, and then, kids of color, to hear that someone, that some adult was that hateful to kids or adults just like them would just make you angry and hateful. If I heard that, that like someone did that to Jewish kids, I would feel like, “Those bastards!” And I don’t want, you know. And so, how do they separate, I mean, one thing that makes it a little easier was like, “Okay, well this was in the south and we’re in the north, and this was a while ago.” But that doesn’t erase,

that’s one thing. But it’s like, “Thank God we’re in the north so that we can at least separate by distance. - Helene

It’s like, really complicated! And I found myself reading the books being like, “and some White people…” “and some White people…” But others were really resisting. -Helene

Cara also realized at one point that as she taught, she felt defensive of White

people because she did not want her students to think that she was racist. Like Helene,

she made sure to point out to her students that there were White people who participated

in the Civil Rights Movement; that not all of them were racist. I asked her if this was

because she wanted them to understand historical nuances, or because she was defensive

of herself. She answered, “a little bit of both.”

From a pedagogical perspective, it is important for everyone to know that White

people participated in the movement for civil rights. By seeing this historical nuance,

White children get to see anti-racist role models, and everyone gets to see examples of

ally behavior. It also interrupts the essentialism that happens when we talk about race

and racial categories. It may help more White people see the Civil Rights Movement as

“their” history too. But too much emphasis on White participation in the Civil Rights

Movement really misses the point, which is to help students see the ways that Black-led

multiracial (predominantly Black) groups fought for their rights against a largely

apathetic and violent White majority. The fear that her students might think all White

people were racist really came as an afterthought for Cara, a reaction to learning the

history alongside her students, and not having time to process it for herself ahead of time.

implementing racist laws were White. And most other White people sat around not doing

anything (while also benefiting from racist policies). The anti-racist White people were

in the minority; there was not exactly much White honor to defend.

“It’s not my property – I don’t own this”

Cara actively wondered whether she, as a White teacher, could be an effective

teacher of the Civil Rights Movement. Her urban charter school, where she taught an all

Black fifth grade class, had an expeditionary learning design, which meant that each

grade level completed multiple expeditions each year, in which teachers designed

comprehensive learning experiences (including cross disciplinary activities, drama and

poetic renderings). The fifth grade was doing an expedition on the Civil Rights

Movement. Like with most things in her classroom, the Civil Rights Movement

expedition seemed exciting, detailed and engaging for the students. Cara seemed

knowledgeable about the topics and organized about her lessons.

The expedition was organized around learning goals, which included helping the

students understand three main points: 1) The Civil Rights Movement was made up of

everyday people, 2) Racial inequality still exists today and 3) Young people made

change. Cara regularly checked in with her students to make sure they were learning

these learning goals. She also taught skills throughout the Civil Rights Movement

lessons. Vocabulary for their word wall was comprised of words they selected in their

readings that they did not understand. They had extensive reading and creating writing

And yet, teaching the Civil Rights Movement brought up a lot of self-doubt for

Cara. She constantly questioned herself. She felt that she did not know enough and

wondered if she was simplifying it too much. “Yeah I want background. Any

background I get even if I can’t adapt it will help me to be a better teacher of this topic.”

At one point I told her I had some ideas for her and she said, “Yeah, gimme.” She

wanted anything she could get it. She had a healthy awareness of how much she did not

know, how much there was to know, and how big of an impact it could have on her

students. This was humbling to me as she was already teaching students aspects of the

Civil Rights Movement that I had never learned.

While I observed her teaching, Cara came over to me and said, “This is a

question… I feel like, it’s not my property, I don’t own this like I should to be able to

teach it.” I was baffled when she said this. Did she mean that the Civil Rights

Movement was not her history? I later clarified that indeed, Cara felt the Civil Rights

Movement was not her history, and that it was not really her business to teach it. She felt

that her students’ parents would judge her and see her as inauthentic. And she feared

they might be right.

Just like Helene in the example above, Cara seemed to see Civil Rights and racial

socialization as not her domain. Cara continued to say things throughout the year like, “It

doesn’t belong to me.” There are probably a number of reasons why she felt this

disconnect from the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. But part of it is the

way that Black history gets segregated from mainstream American history and does not

represents so much of what is right and good about U.S. democracy, gets marginalized as

fringe Black history that does not belong to all of us. Cara’s sense that the history of civil

rights in the U.S. was not her history came from the education that she received, as well

as from mainstream ideas about history. She is not the first person to feel this disconnect.

But it meant that she experienced more self-doubt as a teacher.

Cara’s insecurities made her less bold as a teacher:

Ali: So what do you think were the biggest challenges in teaching the Civil Right Movement expedition for you?

Cara: Just like having a lot of self-doubt. Not knowing if I was simplifying things too much. Not feeling like I knew enough about, like I don’t have a comprehensive knowledge base on the Civil Rights Movement.

Cara had wanted to reach out to parents all along, but feared that they would see her as

just another White teacher teaching “their history”:

I’m so concerned that they will think that I’m just this White person who is trying to impose more things from her White perspective on their kids and now I’m teaching about their history to their kids. I have all these

concerns about that, but what’s the alternative, not teaching it? I mean that’s stupid.

She felt that she never learned the Civil Rights Movement well, so she did not know how

to teach it. In that way, she is right that it is not hers. It is not hers, because like so many

others, she was only taught a cursory understanding of the Civil Rights Movement and

did not necessarily understand all of the details and nuanced dynamics. It is not hers

because she did not embrace it and know it as her own. But that does not mean that her