“What? Here? Now?”: Conversations on Teaching Lynching in the American South

• In Event: Propaganda, Discourse, and Curriculum in the South

Abstract

The primary objective of this article is to describe how pre-service social studies teachers respond to and imagine how they will teach about the complicated topic of lynching and racial violence in politically and ideologically conservative school communities. Participants were asked to engage with extant research describing the pressures and choices teachers make and their decision-making processes when teaching about lynching and racial violence in school communities that have experienced historic instances of lynching. Participants discussed the complexities and consequences of teaching for critical consciousness and civic agency, the need for this approach to teaching social studies, and how they might engage this work pedagogically and professionally in conservative political school communities.

Author

• Brian Gibbs, Member