Developing World-Mindedness or Evading Race? UNESCO and the Los Angeles Schools, 1948–1953

• In Event: Documenting History of Education: Methods, Narratives, and Stories

Abstract

Intercultural education during the 1940s involved teachers, school leaders, and university professors who implemented varying degrees of localized or systemic reforms to combat racial and religious intolerance during World War II and immediately afterwards. How these reforms were implemented in individual districts, however, often hinged on local politics and whether discussions about “race” and racism were included in intercultural curriculum guides and professional development activities. This paper explores the contours and limits of intercultural education in the Los Angeles City schools during the post World War II years, including the district’s focus on the UNESCO curriculum as its centerpiece, the initiative’s silence on issues of race, and the demise of the UNESCO curriculum through conservative activism during the early 1950s.

Author

• Lauri Johnson, Boston College