If high school history courses are meant to introduce students to the paradoxes and debates of American history, then they should study the 1619 Project, the authors argue in this article. College history students regularly debate the extent to which slavery was formative to the development of American systems of law, business, medicine, religion…

Despite limitations and challenges, teaching about difficult histories is an essential aspect of social studies courses and units across grade levels. This practical resource highlights stories of K-12 practitioners who have critically examined and reflected on their experiences with planning and teaching histories identified as difficult.…

Amid national debates about what schools are teaching, Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand how public K-12 teachers, teens and the American public see topics related to race, sexual orientation and gender identity playing out in the classroom. The bulk of the analysis in this report is based on an online survey of 2,531…

In 2015, the mass murder of nine people in a South Carolina church by a White supremacist led to greater public questioning of symbols of the Confederacy. This questioning led to action in the spring of 2017 when four large Confederate monuments were removed in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the citizens of Charlottesville, Virginia, voted to remove…

Because of a long tradition of children's literature depicting enslavement, elementary teachers have an expansive assortment of books from which to choose. These books, however, can be filled with inaccuracies, troubling illustrations, and dubious interpretations of the "peculiar institution." The recent controversy over "A Birthday…

One of the most significant and controversial issues facing the United States as it prepares for the 2020 election cycle centers around reparations--whether the United States should compensate African Americans for slavery, Jim Crow segregation, racial inequalities, and persistent racial discrimination--and the numerous moral, political, social,…

As the midterm election approaches, issues related to K-12 schools have become deeply polarized. Republican and Democratic parents of K12 students have widely different views on what their children should learn at school about gender identity, slavery and other topics, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Pew Research Center conducted…

This study is about a seventh-grade classroom in a predominantly White region in the rural northwestern United States where a White teacher led an interdisciplinary unit on African American narratives of enslavement and freedom fighting. Through the lenses of racial literacy, critical Whiteness studies, and discourse studies, authors use data from…

This article unfurls in the aftermath of an event where three first grade children at a reputable progressive elementary school were found playing slavery during school recess. As word caught on, parents ignited into a frenzy: some railed against the teacher, others demanded an answer, while still others believed this was precisely the meaning of…

The construction, visualization and stabilization of public problems require the mobilization of civil society groups concerned about these issues to actively engage in the demand for actions and policies. This paper explores the institutional campaigns against human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Spain between 2008 and 2017 and their role…

In this article, I explore this question: How can teachers, especially new teachers, create school spaces that present humanizing images and stories of people who were enslaved, particularly people of African descent in the United States? To explore this question, drawing from an ethnographic study of teachers at an elementary school in the U.S.…

Using an analytical framework based on the concept of historical distance, this article explores how Dutch history teachers and educators navigate between the past and the present when making curriculum decisions on the sensitive topic of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery. Four history teachers and 2 museum educators were selected on the…

The purpose of this lesson is to engage young students in thinking about the complexity of socio-historical symbols in the present day. After careful preparation, the authors decided to teach about the decision by the state legislature in July 2015 to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse grounds. Presenting the…

This pilot study investigates the role of anxiety for early childhood pre-service social studies teachers as they learn methods to teach curriculum on slavery and associated issues such as racism or White privilege. The findings indicate that a variety of aspects cause pre-service teachers to experience anxiety around the thought of having to…

Tackling challenging topics in history can be difficult, and sometimes teachers struggle to find age-appropriate ways to help students confront painful stories from the past. About four years ago, this author spearheaded a focus group with the purpose of taking on such a challenge. In the initial meetings, members of the group (four educators from…