Capturing the Civil Rights Movement: U.S. History Teacher Development and Curricular Choice

• In Event: Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Current Practices and New Directions in History Education

Abstract

In this paper, we describe how preservice and practicing teachers selected and discarded images from a bank of famous and lesser-known photographs, which either directly or indirectly represented the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) in the United States. Results from our analysis of the data sources used to discern the choices made by these participants underscored varied beliefs about how teachers should go about representing the past, and make curricular choices about social studies content. Underlying the choices these participants made were insights into curricular choice as a function of teacher identity development and perceptions of historical significance that may inform teacher education and professional development practices.

Authors

• Katy Swalwell, Iowa State University

• Anthony Michael Pellegrino, George Mason University

• Jenice Leilani View, George Mason University