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Among my third-graders, conflicts often arose over the issue of skin color. “Your mama left you in the oven too long. You look just like a burnt cookie!” “Oh yeah, well you look like a white boy. I bet you ain’t even black.” As a young white teacher coming into a school that is about half African-American and half Latino, I knew there would be racial conflicts, but I didn’t know how they would manifest themselves. I assumed that both groups’ first concern would be the oppression and racism from white people. I was not expecting the intense criticism that I found within the African-American community of its own members.

When the Dallas Texas Public Schools District decided to show its fifth-graders Red Tails, an action-adventure film based on the Tuskegee pilots who formed the country’s first black aerial combat unit, it was a tremendous idea. The district felt students would be inspired by the story of these men who fought segregation, integrated the Army and were trained as combat pilots for the United States during WWII.

Critical literacy can expose the assumption that whiteness is “normal” and provide students support for talking about difficult topics.

Every year, teachers find themselves at the center of banned-book debates, wondering how to teach meaningful literature in chilled atmospheres.

A Vermont artist brings students face-to-face with her enslaved ancestors.

Immigrant and refugee students and families are under threat. Many schools have joined a movement to protect them.

Students need historic context to connect activism of the past to social issues in the present.