Teaching Black History Conference

Education Week, 2021

Daniel P. Tulino is an assistant professor of education at Stockton University and a researcher of Black history living in southern New Jersey. Greg Simmons is a high school English and social studies teacher, a doctoral student, and a researcher of Black history in Missouri. Brianne R. Pitts is a 4th grade teacher, instructional coach, and a researcher of Black history living in suburban Wisconsin. The three authors have been since working together on scholarship and presentations that focus on white educators teaching Black history.

Created by NVLP, BQN is a curriculum support package for elementary, middle and high school teachers that uses videotaped oral history interviews with visionaries from the Civil Rights Movement to guide students in discussions about social injustice, racial healing, and political activism. During the Summer Teacher’s Institute, teachers will learn the tenets of Culturally Proficient Instruction (CPI), while exploring one of America’s greatest evolving stories ever told—the Civil Rights Movement. The goals of the institute are: To create a space for 5th-12th grade teachers to deeply engage with the NVLP interviews; to learn and integrate new scholarly perspectives on teaching and learning; to examine the effectiveness of using primary source video material in the classroom; and to learn best practices for becoming a culturally proficient teacher. The institute is the second phase of a multi-year innovative teacher- training program funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF).

Educational Foundations, 2018

White teachers who purpose to support the cultural integrity of African American students must possess essential knowledge, skills, and dispositional understandings relative to Black history and culture. This qualitative study examined the content and conceptual knowledge of 41 individuals relative to African American history and culture through personal interviews, a focus group, and survey interviews. Utilizing their formal and informal learning experiences, the participants highlighted the essential content and concepts relative to Black history and culture necessary for White teachers who work in schools with large numbers of African American students. We provide recommendations for teacher educators charged with preparing culturally relevant teachers and school administrators for supporting the enhanced content and conceptual understandings of White teachers.

This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study that examined the experiences of three middle school teachers who created their own Black History Month curriculum. Although, the relevance of Black History Month is under scrutiny by opponents who feel it marginalized the histories of African Americans, proponents of this position have failed to account for teachers who view and use Black History Month to challenge passive approaches to teaching Black history and to provide narratives that are critical and disrupt the overreliance on traditional historical sources. Our research adds to the literature of scholars who are interested in uncovering the various ways in which teachers navigate or interrupt “official curriculum” that marginalizes African American history. Findings suggest that Black History Month teaching operates in both transgressive and regressive ways that require more scholarly attention and consideration to tease out the appropriate pedagogies for Black History Month.

1972

In this paper, the author offers a rationale for Black Studies programs for the reader's consideration, attempts to resolve the question, loBlack History for what? and illustrates how Black History can be taught as an integral part of a modern social studies curriculum which is spiral, conceptual, and interdisciplinary, and which emphasizes decision-making and social action skills. Black History should help students develop the ability to make reflective decisions so that they can resolve personal problems and shape public policy by participating in intelligent social action; the goal of Black History should be to help students become effective change agents. (Author/SB) U S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.

Radical Teacher, 2020

This article explores complexities in teaching Black-authored material (especially Hip Hop lyricism) in premominantly non-Black college composition courses. It uses Barbara Smith's (1978) "Toward a Black Feminist Criticism" as a lens through which to define and examine those complexities. It offers antiracist pedogogal practices and posits withdrawal for reflection and self-care as a viable choice.

I argue in this article that a close examination of preservice teachers' Black history knowledge is needed to possibly improve curricular and instructional approaches of Black education. Seven preservice teachers were studied and asked to write Black history narratives to ascertain how they interpreted Black history. I analyzed these responses through a Black history framework that combined aspects of diaspora literacy, historical consciousness, and Black Critical race theory. Findings indicate preservice teachers held both critical and noncritical Black history knowledge. Implications are given to teacher educators to find out how to effectively gauge Black history as a heuristic for diversity education.

This work is a result of a research grant from the Library of Congress in which scholars and practitioners examined black history collections and developed from them classroom approaches. My article focuses on how to hold a dialogue about slavery and momentarily suspend discussions of race.

Oregon Journal of the Social Studies, 2019

In this article, the authors argue that the development of high school Black history courses are missing a key element-a Black historical consciousness. Using an example from a school district in Missouri, they explore the history, content, curriculum, pedagogy, and limitations of a course that combines Black Studies with Black history and literature. They examine how a reconceptualization of this course is possible and suggest that all educational stakeholders could benefits from this new approach.

Language Arts Journal of Michigan, 1996