Introduction: What’s at stake when white writes black?

Abstract

Stories shape our identities on both individual and national levels, so it follows that our understandings of US history, the articulation of American values, and how citizens structure social relations are all created and given meaning by and through narratives. However, the stories that educational institutions authorize and that infiltrate our consciousness through popular culture arise from hegemonic power that remains, unto this day, primarily white. To illustrate, consider what Slate writer Jessica Roake uncovers about recent high school assignments designed to teach American history and diversity: “In September [2013], 10th-grade students at a Maryland private school were asked to write a historical essay about the black experience in the South during the Jim Crow era with ‘specific examples of prejudice’ taken from their summer reading text. The three books the students could choose from were presented as equally valid sources for an American history essay on Jim Crow. The books: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The Secret Life of Bees, and The Help.