089: Teaching children about issues related to race

This episode is part of a series on understanding the intersection of race, privilege, and parenting.  Click here to view all the items in this series.

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  In this episode we continue our series on the intersection of race and parenting, which we started with Dr. Margaret Hagerman on the topic of White privilege in parenting; then we covered White privilege in schools with Dr. Allison Roda and what parents can do to overcome structural racism as well as talk with their children about race with Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum.   Today we’re continuing the series by learning from Dr. John Bickford about how to actually have a conversation with our child on a topic as complex and difficult as slavery or the Civil Rights Movement, using both primary sources and children’s ‘trade’ books.   During the episode you’ll hear Dr. Bickford and I hatch an idea to develop a resource guide for parents on exactly what sources and books to use to make sure you’re discussing the right issues within these topics: download the guide below!   Jump to highlights 06:42 What "trade books" are, and why they're often unreliable 11:19 Common myths: "brainwashed," "discovered," and lies of omission 14:53 Less than 1% of enslaved people ever secured their freedom 19:58 What Lincoln believed about slavery 24:40 Introducing hard history through images, in age-appropriate ways 31:25 Why American schools are more segregated now than 50 years ago 36:30 Teaching Tolerance's Teaching Hard History framework 38:15 The real story behind Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott 46:55 Leading versus following a child's questions about race 54:15 The problem with classroom simulations like the blue-eyes/brown-eyes exercise   References:

Bauer, M.D. (2009). Martin Luther King, Jr. New York, NY: Scholastic.

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Bickford, J.H., & Rich, C.W. (2014). Examining the representation of slavery within children’s literature. Social Studies Research and Practice 9(1), 66-94.

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Bickford, J.H., & Rich, C.W. (2015). The historical representation of Thanksgiving within primary- and intermediate-level children’s literature. Journal of Children’s Literature 41(1), 5-21.

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Bickford, J.H. (2015). Assessing and addressing historical misrepresentations within children’s literature about the Civil Rights Movement. The History Teacher 48(4), 693-736.

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Bickford, J.H., & Schuette, L.N. (2016). Trade books’ historical representation of the Black Freedom Movement, slavery through civil rights. Journal of Children’s Literature 42(1), 20-43.

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Bickford, J. (2018). Primary elementary students’ historical literacy, thinking, and argumentation about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. The History Teacher 51(2), 269-292.

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Marzollo, J., & Pinkney, J.B. (1993). Happy Birthday Martin Luther King. New York, NY: Scholastic.

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Southern Poverty Law Center (2019). Anti-racism activity: ‘The Sneetches.’ Author. Retrieved from https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/antiracism-activity-the-sneetches

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Southern Poverty Law Center (2019). Classroom simulations: Proceed with caution. Author. Retrieved from https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/spring-2008/classroom-simulations-proceed-with-caution

 

Click below to download FREE guides to teaching children about slavery and the civil rights movement

Get the FREE Guide!