Category: Essay

  • Fostering Racial Healing: Implementing a Social Reconstructionist History Curriculum

    https://doi.org/10.21061/FosteringRacialHealing Eric Moffa Introduction A social reconstructionist approach to history education emphasizes the transformative potential of teaching about past injustices to foster a more equitable future. This essay explores how such a curriculum can be employed to address racial trauma, drawing on the principles of democratic education and social justice.…

  • Integrating Resilience into Teaching Racial Trauma: Moving Beyond Painful Memories

    https://doi.org/10.21061/IntegratingResilienceIntoTeachingRacialTrauma Shu Wan Introduction Teaching about racial trauma involves more than recounting painful histories; it requires a deliberate focus on resilience, healing, and empowerment. While acknowledging the gravity of systemic injustices, educators also have an opportunity to illuminate stories of recovery, resistance, and community strength. By broadening the scope of…

  • Unpacking Racial Trauma in Children’s Fiction: Mourning as Legacy in The Parker Inheritance

    https://doi.org/10.21061/UnpackingRacialTraumaInChildrensFiction Rachelle Kuehl Introduction Children’s literature has the power to address complex and sensitive topics, including racial trauma. Building upon the existential lenses through which the previous essay examined the enduring impacts of racism and discrimination, the attention now shifts to the realm of fiction, particularly middle-grade literature, to explore…

  • Exploring Black Racial Trauma: An Existential Perspective on Historical Injustices

    https://doi.org/10.21061/ExploringBlackRacialTrauma Matthew Taylor & Sara Ibrahim To be Black in America is to be thrown into an existence under the sociohistorical specter of racism and discrimination and an accompanying proximity to racial trauma. Collectively, as families and communities, we routinely, and as universal custom, relive, revisit, and relate these events…

  • Teaching about Racial Violence in Virginia: Strategies for Addressing Difficult Histories in the Classroom 

    https://doi.org/10.21061/TeachingRacialViolenceVirginia Gianluca De Fazio, Mary Beth Cancienne, Ashley Taylor Jaffee, Elaine Kaye, Nicole Wilson, & Ryland Jones Introduction  Teaching the difficult history of lynching requires a sensitive and informed approach, particularly when dealing with local incidents that may still resonate within a community. This essay provides pedagogical strategies for integrating…

  • Remembrance of Racial Violence: Confronting Historical Trauma and Resilience in Wise County, Virginia

    https://doi.org/10.21061/RemembranceofRacialViolence Chloe Allen and Tom Costa Introduction Sometime in October 2022, thieves stole a memorial marker on a remote stretch of highway between Norton and Appalachia, VA. The sign, dedicated less than a month earlier, memorialized the 1920 lynching of David Hurst, a Black coal miner accused of breaking into…