U.S. libraries and classrooms are under siege by private and governmental entities working to simultaneously ban/remove justice-focused literature and inundate these spaces with reactionary/ultra-conservative materials. It is within this educational crisis that we conducted a critical content analysis of the award-winning, best-selling historical…

This study investigates how 19 third-grade students developed their understandings of enslavement during a six-week social studies inquiry. Using Teaching Tolerance's key concepts as my analytic framework, I analyzed the students' pre- and post-concept maps and classwork to understand their learning. The findings show that students conceptualized…

This article engages with three commonly traversed social studies topics--depictions of violence and death from the French Revolution, during the Vietnam War, and regarding U.S. histories of racial segregation--through the lens of Achille Mbembe's "necropolitics" (i.e., political and social machinations of power that determine who lives…

There are multiple benefits to women's history, including identifying women's experiences as historically significant and recognizing the variety of perspectives of historical actors. Engaging students with resources on women's history requires teachers to be prepared to deal with students' misconceptions and feelings about gender and feminism.…

Situated in an increasingly hostile political climate toward traditionally marginalized individuals, including those with Latinx identity, our study uses systemic functional linguistics to examine language choices authors make in regards to conflict and contention between Latinxs and the United States across three different 11th-grade U.S. history…

This article discusses the false dichotomy between criticality and historical inquiry. We argue that adding "critical" to "historical inquiry" can be interpreted as something distinct, instead of integral, to historical inquiry. It can normalize the idea that historical thinking is not critical, which, in turn, upholds the…

Critical race scholars have argued that curricular portrayals of the Civil Rights Movement are undermined by master narratives that legitimate the racial status quo. Although many scholars have critiqued Movement master narratives in social studies and society, few studies have examined Black students' interpretations of such representations and…

The author seeks to revitalize the interests of social educators in the value of using critical, postmodern discourses for rich comprehension of and productive scholarly research in our field. These discourses (a) challenge existing understanding within social education and the knowledge and knower they help produce; and (b) imagine more complex,…

Explores the presentation of slavery in U.S. history textbooks from 1900 to 1992 with respect to changing ideologies. Identifies five ideological patterns: (1) a neutral presentation; (2) justifying its existence; (3) a necessary evil; (4) Un-American; and (5) a reflection of Conservative values. (CMK)

Reflects on a social studies teacher's experiences during a Fulbright professorship in Ghana. Relates how, as an outsider from the United States, she learned about Ghanian perspectives of history, economics, women's issues, and culture, and was reminded of the dominating power of Western cultural and economic imperialism. (DSK)