Family Ties: Exploring Four Generations of One White Family's Public and Private Racial Consciousness

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Whiteness and the "Workforce"

Abstract

This paper situates four generations of one family in discussion with critical race parenting (Matias, 2016) and definitions of anti-racist and nonracist pedagogies (King & Prentice, 2016) to explore the blurred lines between personal and public teaching and learning (Mills, 1959). The inquiry exposes generational messages about race, racism, privilege, and access that were both implicitly and explicitly taught. Ladson-Billings & Tate’s (1995) critical race theory in education is used as a theoretical lens to discuss further the potential for critically conscious “anti-racist” parenting, teaching, and learning. Readers will find replicable questions, examples, and frames for future studies into teachers’ lives, socialization, and development, as well as suggestions to engage in more overt anti-racist instruction at home.

Author

• Brianne Rose Pitts, Western Michigan University