Etched Into the Soul of a Nation: Interrogating the Historical Consciousness of Blackness Within U.S. History Textbooks, 1950–2020

• In Event: Whose Memory Matters? Race and the Making of America's Historical Monuments and Curricula

Abstract

Textbooks serve as an ideational resource to memorialize a curated national history. This study evaluates the representations of Blackness within the arc of the American narrative as articulated in secondary history and/or social studies textbooks. Data sources include California and Texas textbooks published between 1950 and 2020. Using a textual analysis methodology and a critical race theory framework, this paper attempts to explain the embodiment of the Black experience as constructed by the American historical consciousness in educational discursive materials. This paper argues that configuration of Blackness within textbooks is deeply rooted in neoliberal ideals dislocated outside of the larger project of African Diaspora.

Author

• Darion A. Wallace, Stanford University