The more things change, the more they stay the same: Excavating race and the enduring racisms in U.S. curriculum

Abstract

Drawing from Omi and Winant's (1994) racial formation theory and Holt's (1995) theory of race marking, in this chapter, we explore the context of race and curriculum for African Americans during post-Reconstruction and the post-civil rights era. Our inquiry focused on the racial discourses located in two sources of curricula knowledge: children's literature and U.S. history textbooks. In this analysis, we illustrate how the presence of race aligned with ideological beliefs about race that were prevalent in the wider societal discourse. We argue that the histories of race have maintained apermanent, enduring place in U.S. curriculum. While morphing in content and appearance, formations of race remained entrenched and pervasive, thus reflecting the condition we characterize as the enduring racisms of U.S. curriculum.