Film as (Black) Curriculum: Learning Slavery and Race Through Black American History Crash Course Films

• In Event: Global Citizenship in Motion: Critical Pedagogies of Race, History, and Decolonization

Abstract

Recent efforts to dismantle DEI and forbid teaching about race nationwide stand to undermine how mainstream schools teach civic and racial literacy, particularly regarding the U.S. history of enslavement. As public schools navigate these challenges, public and community learning spaces are poised to play a key role in knowledge dissemination, just as they have previously in times of sociopolitical upheaval. Drawing from theoretical frameworks grounded in Black intellectual/historical tradition (Berry, 2017; Berry, 2021; King, 2020) and racial literacy (Guinier, 2004) this presentation explores how 15 Black American History Crash Course educational films address slavery, focusing on how the topic is presented, understood, and situated within the larger arc of U.S. history.

Authors

• Keffrelyn D. Brown, University of Texas at Austin

• Anthony L. Brown, University of Texas at Austin

• Nkasano R. Fullerton, University of Texas at Austin