Narratives of Black History in Textbooks: Canada and the United States

• In Event: 25.065 - Narratives, Counternarratives, and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Investigating Students, Teachers, and Texts

Abstract

Using the theoretical framework of revisionist ontology, we examine Black history textbooks from Canada and the United States. We argue that researchers have done an exhaustive job in explicating how traditional history textbooks present troublesome notions regarding Black history. Little research has explored how Black history textbooks talk about race, racism, and Blackness. Our goal is to present data from textbooks from three revisionist ontological orientations: Black epistemology, the Black aesthetic and intersectionality. We conclude with implications to history education and provide suggestions to how Black history can become more complex, diverse, and rigorous, therefore more human.

Authors

• LaGarrett Jarriel King, University of Missouri - Columbia

• Crystal G Simmons, SUNY - College at Geneseo