Brownness, Books, and Our Babies: The Urgency of Culturally Relevant Literacy Instruction in Primary Classrooms

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Unveiling Liberatory and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Practice (Table 12)

Abstract

Minoritized children (MC) make up the largest percentage of students in US schools, the education system still amplifies Whiteness. To underscore the need for culturally relevant literacy instruction, a study was conducted with ten students from Michigan’s largest school district with the purpose of demonstrating the necessity of “mirrors” (Bishop, 1990) in literacy instruction. Paralleling Clark and Clark’s (1947) doll test, students were asked their preference between a Black and a White children’s book. Initially, seven out of ten students indicated a preference toward the White text. However, after reading both books and their subsequent lessons, six students of the ten articulated a preference for the Black text highlighting the integral role of antiracist education practices in primary literacy classes.

Authors

• Amber Lawson, Michigan State University

• Alexis Morgan Young, University of Maryland