The Nature of Racial Socialization for Young Black Children: The Development of Sociopolitical Knowledge

• In Event: 28.089 - MTCC Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 28.089-9 - The Work of Black Parents in Black Children's Learning and Development

Abstract

Research on young children indicates that they can distinguish and attach meaning to racial categories (Clark & Clark, 1939; Van Ausdale & Feagin, 2001). Extending racial awareness research, this paper examines the nature and role of parents’ influences on the development of young children’s understandings about racialized circumstances. This paper draws upon interview data from a larger study that investigates five African American first-graders’ knowledge and interpretations of sociopolitical issues in and around their lives, the multiple influences upon which they draw to make meaning, and how those influences are represented in their engagement with diverse literacy practices. Implications for understanding African American children’s, particularly those living in urban contexts, socialization influences and developmental capacities are discussed.

Author

• Wintre Foxworth Johnson, University of Virginia