“We Always on Ready”: How Black Students’ Discourse and Affect Challenge the "Difficult" History Label

• In Event: Students' Histories and Experiences at the Center: Defining "Difficult" and Worthy Historical Investigations

Abstract

Research on difficult histories is a well-studied topic in social studies education and has provided educators with effective pedagogies on how to teach histories that discuss violence and trauma. Limited scholarship, however, critically examines the unintentional inequities produced when histories are labeled ‘difficult.’ Drawing from focus group interviews with Black students in a U.S. history course, this paper examines how their understandings of Black histories and their Black affective responses when learning 'difficult' Black histories, challenges the labeling of Black histories as difficult. Findings from this study illustrate that the label needs more nuance, as it can reinforce political efforts to eliminate Black histories from schools and can oversimplify the perspectives and lived experiences of historically marginalized groups.

Author

• Brittany Jones, University at Buffalo - SUNY