Teaching about Race in an Urban History Class: The Effects of Culturally Responsive Teaching

The authors examined the effects of a culturally responsive teacher's pedagogy on urban low-income African American and Latino high school students' interpretations of racial diversity, racism, and individual and collective agency in U. S. history. The authors found that students incorporated instruction about the diversity and agency of people of color and the changing forms and complexity of racism in U. S. history. Students were less responsive to instruction about the diversity of white people's historical experiences and particularly their roles as an oppressed group or as members of anti-racist movements. They also had difficulty conceptualizing the difficulty or "long arm" of change in history. The authors conclude by speculating on the potential and constraints of culturally responsive teaching, as well as areas for further research. (Contains 1 note.)