White supremacy in U.S. school curriculum

White supremacy in the U.S. school curriculum refers to the inclusion and perpetuation of narratives in educational materials that elevate and normalize white perspectives while often marginalizing or misrepresenting the experiences and contributions of non-white groups.[citation needed]

Throughout American history, this has manifested in the way topics like the Civil War and Reconstruction are taught, emphasizing reconciliation between the North and South and downplaying the significance of slavery and the role of African Americans in these events.[1] Such perspectives have contributed to a skewed historical understanding that aligns with the narratives of white supremacy, as seen in the promotion of the “Lost Cause” ideology, which romanticizes the Confederacy and overlooks the realities of racial oppression. These narratives are reflected in history textbooks and classroom teachings, which have historically omitted critical discussions about slavery and the fight for racial justice, thereby shaping the nation’s collective memory to favor white-centric views.[2]

In U.S. school curricula, unequal race relations often manifest through the overrepresentation of the values, views, histories, and accomplishments associated with Western Europeans and white Americans and the underrepresentation of the practices, histories, and accomplishments of non-white racial groups.[2][3][4][5]

Some scholars argue that curricula in the 19th and into the 21st centuries have represented non-white peoples in negative, simplified, or damaging ways.[2][3][6][7][8][9][10] Scholars have produced research arguing that these processes have occurred in a wide range of academic subjects, including mathematics,[11] science,[11] history,[11][12] and literature,[12] as well as in a variety of educational settings, from primary school to higher education.[4][13][14]

  1. ^ "Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory | Department of African American Studies". afamstudies.yale.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
  2. ^ a b c Woodson, Carter Godwin (1993). The Mis-education of the Negro. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press. pp. 1–8. ISBN 978-0-86543-171-3.
  3. ^ a b Swartz, Ellen (1992). "Emancipatory Narratives: Rewriting the Master Script in the School Curriculum". The Journal of Negro Education. 61 (3): 341–355. doi:10.2307/2295252. ISSN 0022-2984. JSTOR 2295252.
  4. ^ a b Stout, Mary A. (2012). Native American Boarding Schools. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. pp. 13–45, 119–127. ISBN 978-0-313-38676-3. OCLC 745980477.
  5. ^ Brown, Anthony Lamar (2010). "Counter-memory and Race: An Examination of African American Scholars' Challenges to Early Twentieth Century K–12 Historical Discourses". The Journal of Negro Education. 79 (1). Howard University: 54–65. ISSN 0022-2984. JSTOR 25676109.
  6. ^ Elson, Ruth Miller (1964). Guardians of Tradition: American Schoolbooks of the Nineteenth Century. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 65–100.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Allen, Van S. (1971). "An Analysis of Textbooks Relative to the Treatment of Black Americans". The Journal of Negro Education. 40 (2): 140–145. doi:10.2307/2966724. ISSN 0022-2984. JSTOR 2966724.
  9. ^ Au, Wayne; Brown, Anthony Lamar; Calderón, Dolores Amaroni (2016). Reclaiming the Multicultural Roots of U.S. Curriculum: Communities of Color and Official Knowledge in Education. New York. pp. 23–129. ISBN 978-0-8077-5678-2. OCLC 951742385.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Rebecca Klein (2021-08-12). "The rightwing US textbooks that teach slavery as 'black immigration'". The Guardian.
  11. ^ a b c Joseph, George G. (1997). Ethnomathematics : challenging eurocentrism in mathematics education. Powell, Arthur B., Frankenstein, Marilyn. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 61–73. ISBN 0-585-07569-7. OCLC 42855885.
  12. ^ a b Crawford, Leslie W., 1934- (1993). Language and literacy learning in multicultural classrooms. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. pp. 18–24, 248–260. ISBN 0-205-13499-8. OCLC 26396748.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Mills, Charles W. (1994). "Revisionist Ontologies: Theorizing White Supremacy". Social and Economic Studies. 43 (3). University of the West Indies at St. Augustine: 105–134. ISSN 0037-7651. JSTOR 27865977.
  14. ^ King, LaGarrett J. (2014). "When Lions Write History: Black History Textbooks, African-American Educators, & the Alternative Black Curriculum in Social Studies Education, 1890–1940". Multicultural Education. 22: 2–11.