When school and district leaders explicitly express support for their teachers and for honest histories, educators feel more encouraged to keep doing this important work.
When educators feel like they are not alone in their belief that students deserve access to accurate and inclusive learning, they are more likely to persevere in their advocacy for teaching honest histories.
Kate Shuster, Ph.D., is an education researcher and author based in Montgomery, Alabama. Her work as project director for Teaching Tolerance’s Teaching Hard History initiative has included the following: researching for and writing the widely cited report Teaching Hard History: American Slavery; leading a team of experts to write and revise a suite of innovative K–12 curricular resources; producing the Teaching Hard History podcast; and creating and managing partnerships with related interpretive centers and institutions. Kate is also the author and researcher of Teaching Tolerance’s Teaching
Explore Maya Angelou’s life and legacy by creating a customized Learning Plan that gives your students the opportunity to closely read her work and engage with her words through a social justice lens.
It started as a series of Instagram posts; then it became a downloadable workbook. Now, the “Me and White Supremacy” challenge is reaching the mainstream—and creator Layla F. Saad hopes all teachers with white privilege will find the courage to take it.