Anti-Racism Teaching Guide

Delivered October 16, 1963, as “The Negro Child – His Self-Image”; originally published in The Saturday Review

"...In this paper, I tell stories about my own experiences as a black woman graduate student as a way of ‘talking back’ to the disjunctures between pedagogical intentions and the disappointing realities of anti‐racist classrooms. I identify the pedagogical obstacles that block instructors from positioning students of color as a central educational concern alongside their white classmates, and argue that anti‐racist educators must reexamine their principles and practices from the standpoint of students of color. "

The purpose of this paper is to define Antiracist Pedagogy and establish it within the sociological framework of Critical Theory. Antiracist Pedagogy is a paradigm located within Critical Theory utilized to explain and counteract the persistence and impact of racism. This paper indicates the need for the establishment of Antiracist Pedagogy within the school curriculum as well as the necessary professional development required to implement Antiracist Pedagogy effectively.

The article discusses the Racial Issues model being used by the St. Cloud State University (SCSU) in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, which employs a cross-cultural effort legitimizing the discussion of race across several disciplines and shares the responsibility of teaching about race throughout the campus community. It says that Racial Issues courses discuss core concepts including racism, power, and assimilation and offers the critical analytical skills to understand power relations and the intersectionality of oppressions

"I make a point of revisiting this essay at the beginning of each school year, and while Baldwin’s words have always felt relevant, this year they feel particularly so. "

"... American writer and social critic James Baldwin delivered a speech to educators about how to speak with their students during difficult times. Many of the issues from that speech are still relevant today."

An essay is presented on the possibilities of anti-racist teaching in the university classroom in the U.S. It outlines the alternatives of pulling apart assumptions of race and class privilege in the school environment. According to the author, educators must apply the idea of colorblind discourse to decenter racism, sexism and classism. She asserts that teachers need to actively resist hegemony in their classrooms.

Quality education in the United States has been compromised via public discourses that reinstitute racism on a daily basis. In its current manifestation, racism survives through the guise of neoliberalism, a kind of repartee that imagines human agency as simply a matter of individualized choices, the only obstacle to effective citizenship and agency being the lack of principled self-help and moral responsibility. In this article, I examine briefly the changing nature of the new racism by analyzing how some of its central assumptions evade notions of race, racial justice, equity, and democracy altogether.

Teaching antiracism is a political project, which will be especially challenging in a university environment which has traditionally valued ‘objective’ and ‘apolitical’ knowledge. This analysis focuses on specific pedagogical practices which promote an antiracism framework, with specific attention directed to the process of learning antiracism and how these goals may be furthered within the academy.

Explores how the hashtag injunction #staywoke associated with Black Lives Matter challenges digital engagement and literacies in American studies antiracist pedagogy.

Resources from the National Council of Teachers of English’s Standing Committee Against Racism and Bias