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How to: Use Banned Books with Critical Race Theory Content in Humanities Classrooms

 

Instructors concur that racial issues should be discussed in class. According to a recent nationwide

study of teachers, the majority (84%) of them either exclusively discuss racism in the framework of

history or discuss it in both historical and contemporary situations. Just 16% of teachers reported that

their classes never address racism. A whopping 59% of educators stated they think systematic racism

is real. A majority (55%) of those who were asked whether there should be legal restrictions (i.e., these

Critical Race Theory rules) on classroom discussions about racism, sexism, and other contentious

subjects disagreed (Will 2021).

Books that have been banned and why: Jacqueline Woodson's memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming, is a

verse-based account of her early years as a young African American girl in the 1960s and 1970s.

The story of the 6-year-old Black child who integrated a school for white students is told in the picture

book The Tale of Ruby Bridges. Young adult book The Hate U Give explores what happens after a

Black teenager is killed by a police officer (Will 2021).

 

To understand enduring injustices, young people need assistance. As students age, they will see and

encounter prejudice and discrimination in the news, online, at school, and elsewhere. Students will

witness or feel it when certain students are treated worse than others. Through their

textbooks, literature, and other school-related materials, they will notice how particular groups of

people are left out or not appropriately represented.For people of color or other marginalized groups,

the results will be disproportionately bad (e.g., Black boys and girls being are often disciplined more

in school, men holding elected office more than women) (Eddings 2020).  

 

Bias exists everywhere. We all have prejudices shaped by our experiences in the world and impacted

by factors like family, the media, where we live, the people we know and don't know, and social

trends. Bias is, in fact, learned. Kids who enter preschool at ages 4 and 5 already exhibit racial bias.

Because youngsters aren't given the

context to understand or analyze why our society is the way it is, "they make up reasons, and many

kids make up biased, racist reasons," claims Dr. Rebecca Bigler, a developmental psychologist who

studies prejudice (Will 2021).

 

The lack of opportunities for kids to think critically about how these disparities manifest in systems

and organizations is detrimental to children of color, white children, and society as a whole. Young

people may accept these inequities as "just the way it is" if they don't have these dialogues or believe

some groups "deserve" to suffer unfavorable consequences. Thinking along these lines makes people

underestimate themselves and others, reinforcing their bias (Eddings 2020). Therefore, bringing 

these banned books into higher education

humanities classes will only help. 

 

Feeling discomfort when discussing issues like racism and sexism is common. Still, if these inequities

are not unpacked and discussed, young people will internalize what they see, and these biases will

become part of their mindset. That’s why teachers (and others) must be equipped to have these

conversations responsibly.  The National Council of Teachers of Humanities compiles teachers' reports

on potential and actual classroom difficulties with books. These seven books were contested—or had

been expected to be contested—due to worries that they promoted critical race theory or other

potentially contentious ideas (Will 2021).

 

1. All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

2. Monday’s Not Coming, by Tiffany D. Jackson

3. Monster, by Walter Dean Myers

4. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander

5. The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo 

6. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See 

7. The Undefeated, by Kwame Alexander

 

Work Cited:

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Eddings, J. (2020, December 8). Exploring Race, class, and Power in Young
Adult literature. DigitalCommons@EMU.

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Will, M. (2021, October 19). Calls to ban books by black authors are increasing amid critical race

theory debates. Education Week. Retrieved March 4, 2023, from https://www.edweek.org/teaching-

learning/calls-to-ban-books-by-

black-authors-are-increasing-amid-critical-race-theory-debates/2021/09

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