A McGraw-Hill textbook is under fire for its characterization of enslaved people as “workers”—the latest example of our national unwillingness to face white supremacist history.
This segment examines black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey and his organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Best known for his leadership in a "back to Africa" movement, Garvey's ideas would influence later black nationalist thought.
Several stacks of fake dollar bills enclosed in a Plexiglas case sit at the center of an exhibit entitled “RACE: Are We So Different?” at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. One stack towers over the others. This teetering pile of bills represents the average net worth of “white” people’s assets in relation to those of other racialized groups based upon data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau from 1997 to 2000. While the “Asian” stack is almost as high, the “black” stack can hardly be called a stack at all; the “Latino” stack is almost as low.
At my school, we often call a student’s misbehavior a “poor choice.” A staff member suggested that the phrase unintentionally promotes a bias against the poor. I appreciated that insight. Wouldn’t it be much more accurate—and equally effective—to say, “That choice was disrespectful,” or “The choice you made disrupted our learning?”
Most of us hold stereotypes about our country’s different regions—and even individual states. These biases, writer Carrie Kilman points out, originate in, or are shaped in part by, the media. And we are being exposed to
This history teacher elevates his lessons on stereotyping to the next level. How? By engaging his students in reflective investigations of power, history and intention.
As Earth Day approaches, it’s a good time to think about how you approach issues of identity and diversity when it comes to the environment—regardless of the subject you teach. Here’s how one science teacher did it.