Whose Fear Matters? An Examination of Fear in Virginia's U.S. History Standards

• In Event: Teaching History for Justice

Abstract

This paper examines how Virginia's United States/Virginia history Standards of Learning (SOLs) discuss white fear through the lenses of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Black Critical Theory (BlackCrit) to expose the harms of exclusively teaching United States history from a viewpoint of white fear devoid any acknowledgment of Black fear. Additionally, I examine the implications of using history education to justify white fear for students, and how it could add to their miseducation and misunderstandings of both the past and present. Lastly, I offer strategies to teachers on how to complexify the white fear narrative that runs latently throughout the SOLs.

Author

• Brittany Jones, Michigan State University