Reading the Tulsa Race Massacre: Considering the Role of Text Genre in History Teaching

• In Event: Place, Space, and Lessons for Social Justice

Abstract

Research on how students learn history has rarely explored the role that genre might play in students’ interaction with and emotional response to reading historical texts. Using think-alouds and interviews, this study analyzed how white students interacted with an eye-witness narrative and textbook account of the Tulsa Race Massacre. When reading the narrative, students were more likely to empathize with survivors of the Massacre. When reading the textbook, students were more likely to reflect on the present historical moment. The study shares additional findings and offers implications for social-justice oriented history curricula.

Author

• Emma Bene, Stanford University