807 takeaways from the 2020 EDLP Cohort
Two great books required for the course
Revisionist History
Being critical of what we have learned.
What is Revisionist History?
Educators must be critical of history and be what Delgado and Stefancic (2017) deem as revisionists of history. “Revisionist history reexamines America’s historical record, replacing comforting majoritarian interpretations of events with ones that square more accurately with minorities’ experiences,” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017, p. 25). Through this portfolio you will learn about things that may be new to you, we are asking you to engage in critical reflection and ask: Why have I not learned this before now? To be a revisionist historian in education is to look for the truth among the misinformation that has been presented as fact for so long.
The Magnolia Myth, and other examples of “majoritarian interpretations”.
The Magnolia Myth, a term described by Loewen (2007), is a prime example of a majoritarian interpretation. In the Magnolia Myth history books painted slavery as “a social structure of harmony and grace that did no real harm to anyone, white or black,” (Loewen, 2007, p.137). In order to protect the collective psyche of white Americans truthful accounts have been censured from our history texts time and time again.
The story of Rosa Parks is another example of the dilutions of the truth. Rosa parks in so many accounts is painted as an overworked and tired seamstress who one day had enough and was simple thrust into the limelight for refusing to move to the back of the bus. The truth, however, is much different. Parks was in fact, not only a seamstress but a community organizer who had been working tireless to help organize a struggle for freedom through the Montgomery Bus boycott (Kohl, 1995).
What is in our textbooks?
Textbooks should be educators bastions of hope regarding accurate content but this may not always be the case. When searching for textbooks that accurately portraying slavery most of them shy away from naming racism as a factor (Loewen, 2007). The textbook industry is just that, an industry which is beholden to making a profit in order to survive. This drive for a profit results in two states, California and Texas having a disproportionate say in what information makes its way into a text. If a book doesn’t sell in California or Texas it will not make a profit (Stille, 1998).
Sources:
Brown, T. M., & Rodriguez, L. F. (2009). School and the co-construction of dropout. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22(2), 221-242. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390802005570
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction (3rd ed.). NYU Press.
Donovan, M. S., & Cross, C. T. (Eds.). (2002). Minority students in special and gifted education. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Kohl, H. R. (1995) Should we burn Babar?: Essays on children literature and the power of stories. The New Press.
Loewen, J. W. (2007). Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. Touchstone.
Skiba, R. J., Horner, R. H., Chung, C., Karega Rausch, M., May, S. L., & Tobin, T. (2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Review, 40(1), 85-107.
Stille, A. (1998). The betrayal of history. The New York Review of Books.
Themes in the struggle
Concluding Remarks: The current state of education
The work for racial equity in education is far from over. There is no doubt that the Brown vs. Board of Education decision was groundbreaking public school systems have been complicit in perpetuating racial inequity since then. We have illustrated some of the manners that this has happened throughout this portfolio but beyond that there…
Sacrifices
Throughout history, African Americans have seen education as “a way to break out of the unbreakable cycle” (Anderson, pg. 92) of oppression that has encompassed their existence since the inception of the United States. The sacredness in which they held education reveals a central theme of sacrifice in hopes of having a brighter tomorrow. In…
The Power of Organizing
Starting in the late 1930s, educational activism took shape in an attempt to counter the oppressive forces of an education system entrenched in white supremacy and racism. Through sit-ins, boycotts, strikes, petitions, and legal action, many African Americans fought for educational equity. The action of organizing in itself, has great power, but the teaching of…
Curriculum
Public Schooling Public schooling for ex-slaves, both common schools and normal schools, were designed to teach students as well as to uphold the racial caste system and the beliefs of white superiority. To do this, the curricula at schools like the Hampton Agricultural and Normal Institute (now known as Hampton University) emphasized manual labor and…
Loading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
807 Takeaways from the 2020 EDLP Cohort 