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TEACHERS TURN TO STUDY GROUPS FOR ANTI-RACIST LEARNING AS HISTORY IS
WHITEWASHED  
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Jesse Hagopian, Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
December 30, 2024
Truthout
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_ Amid right-wing attacks on classrooms, study groups light a “fire
of hope” among anti-racist educators. _

, Ayo Walker / Truthout

 

It is hard to overstate the burdens public school educators have been
asked to carry over the last several years.

There are the perennial stressors: inadequate funding, crumbling
infrastructure, the inundation of schools with standardized testing,
and too little time to plan, grade and collaborate with colleagues.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic: isolation, building closures, remote
teaching, reopenings and severe staff shortages. Wielding the cudgel
of “learning loss,” elites laid the blame for the traumatic
impacts of a pandemic at the feet of teachers and public schools.

And through all that, there has been the steady and sinister growth of
book bans, curricular gag orders and the criminalization of
trans-affirming policies — all of which seek to muzzle educators
from telling the truth and extending care to students. Today, almost
half
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of all public school students have a teacher who has been prohibited
from teaching the truth about systemic racism in U.S. history. As one
teacher told the Zinn Education Project, “I’m terrified to say
anything about enslavement because it might make students
‘uncomfortable.’ I also can’t recommend _any_ books because a
parent might not like it and then I could be charged with a felony.”

The impact of the relentless attacks on educators from right-wing
forces is difficult to quantify, but a 2022 survey
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provides some insight into the harm being caused. According to a
report by the National Education Association, “A staggering 55
percent of educators are thinking about leaving the profession earlier
than they had planned.” The report also reveals that a
disproportionate percentage of Black (62 percent) and Latinx (59
percent) educators — already underrepresented in the field — are
considering an early departure from teaching. Many factors are pushing
educators away, from health risks during the pandemic to low pay and a
lack of respect that stems from politicians who aim to scapegoat
educators for the social problems they refuse to address. Especially
distressing is the toll taken by the ongoing criminalization of truth
in education. As one teacher from Tennessee shared
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the impact of educational gag order legislation on her decision to
leave teaching, “I just can’t. I can’t do this. I really value
being honest with students. I really don’t think I can navigate
teaching in such a watered-down type of way.”

The fear of retribution for teaching the truth has created such a
chilling effect that an astounding two-thirds
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of U.S. teachers now report self-censoring discussions on race, gender
identity and sexuality in their classrooms.

But there is another story about teachers — buried beneath the
headlines of doom and despair — that must be told to fully
understand this era of education; this is a story about solidarity,
community, hope and resistance.

As we have seen educators come under attack for teaching the truth
about U.S. history, we have also seen them rise up and fight back. For
the past three years, hundreds of educators have participated in the
annual Teach Truth National Day of Action
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banned book swaps, historical walking tours, rallies, and more. In
addition, thousands of educators have participated in the Black Lives
Matter at School Week of Action
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joining the call for the Year of Purpose activities
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There is one story of educator resistance that has not been reported
on: the _Teaching for Black Lives_ (T4BL) study groups
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more than 3,795 educators [[link removed]]
from across the country — including in states that have prohibited
anti-racist education — who have come together over the last several
years to read, learn, reflect, and struggle for justice in classrooms
and schools. Hundreds of T4BL study groups have formed since 2020,
including groups comprised of teachers across Florida
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educators from Wake County School District (K–12) in North Carolina
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educators from Hayward Unified School District (pre-K–12) in
California
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Two-thirds of U.S. teachers now report self-censoring discussions on
race, gender identity and sexuality in their classrooms.

At most schools, isolation is the norm. Teachers scarcely have time to
use the bathroom between classes, answer emails and plan lessons
during their prep periods, and eat a nourishing meal during their
lunch “break.” We have yet to see a place on a school’s daily
bell schedule labeled “time to build meaningful relationships with
other adults in the school.” Too often, professional development is
imposed on educators and feels tangential to the most pressing issues
in education. Study groups provide educators with a reliable structure
of support and community, while allowing educators to direct their own
professional development.

“Participating in this study group has reminded me that I am not
alone in my district. This work can often feel really isolating, and
it was so encouraging to meet with colleagues who are also passionate
about equity,” says Crystel Weber from Gresham, Oregon. Similarly,
Sarae Pacetta from Portland, Maine, reflects, “Our study group has
been an anchor for all of us.…We are each other’s touchstones when
we need to process an issue.”

No doubt, this moment calls for copious and varied forms of organizing
— in our unions, at our local school and library boards, and in
collaboration with community and parent groups. But as we fight the
current wave of attacks on education, _it is critical that we ground
ourselves in what we are fighting for, not just against_. Small,
educator-led communities of study and reflection can provide that
grounding. Study group members have told us that their groups have
been a vital source of strength, support and guidance during budget
cuts and right-wing attacks on education. “Having a national network
of support and like-minded colleagues is a balm during these
challenging times,” said one study group member.

A mainstay of school mission statements is that the educational
program should create “life-long learners.” Yet, this value is
rarely prioritized by school leaders when it comes to educators. Study
groups encourage educators to claim time to learn — through book
study and discussion, online classes and participatory workshops. We
cannot apply principles of equity and justice that we ourselves have
not learned.

“I’ve learned so much about the accurate and hidden history of
Black Americans and how our systems continue to affect them,” says
Teri McAllister, a teacher in Everett, Washington, on the impact of
collective study. “This learning experience has deepened my
commitment to creating change.”

Heidi Given from Somerville, Massachusetts, shares, “Our study group
provided a platform to explore histories we were never taught, and to
develop pedagogical practices for sharing those histories with our
students.”

Yet these groups aren’t just about educators deepening their
understanding of Black history and intersectional social issues; the
T4BL study groups have also inspired educators to move from discussion
to action, and to tackle issues of racial justice directly within
their communities and schools.

The role of study groups is frequently underestimated in historical
accounts of social change, yet these gatherings are often the bedrock
of movements for social justice.

A T4BL study group in Florida
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a state where draconian laws have been deployed to fire educators who
teach the truth about racism — inspired educators to get active in
their union to organize against the onslaught of anti-education bills
imposed on them in recent years. In Madera, California, a T4BL study
group took a deep dive into the discipline data at their school, and a
member reported that their group “completely restructured” their
school discipline approach. This included hiring an intervention
specialist and transforming the position of the teacher who had
supervised in-school suspensions to abandon a punishment model and
become a trained restorative justice practitioner who “works closely
with our intervention specialist, counseling team, and student psych
services.” In Kansas City, Missouri, study group leader Michael
Rebne and other educators participated in Teach Truth Days of Action
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by organizing events at historic sites to highlight the importance of
truthful education, especially as right-wing anti-history bills
threaten to mandate lies and omissions in classrooms across the
country.

The role of study groups is frequently underestimated in historical
accounts of social change, yet these gatherings are often the bedrock
of movements for social justice. Study groups create spaces for
individuals to explore ideas, develop critical consciousness and build
the ideological foundations necessary for collective action. From the
Black freedom struggle to the labor movement, study groups have
brought together individuals eager to learn, strategize and ultimately
transform society.

In the early 20th century, Black intellectuals and activists such as
W. E. B. Du Bois and the members of the Niagara Movement met regularly
in study groups to discuss racial justice and civil rights, laying the
groundwork for the NAACP. During the civil rights movement, study
groups were instrumental in the formation of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) [[link removed]],
where young activists learned about direct action and Black
liberation. In 1962, the Afro-American Association (AAA) emerged as a
study group at Merritt College in Oakland, California, bringing
together Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale alongside other students and
educators to explore Black history and revolutionary ideas. Some of
the texts they studied included Frantz Fanon’s _The Wretched of the
Earth_ and the speeches and writings of Malcolm X. The discussions and
debates they engaged in through the AAA laid the ideological
groundwork that eventually inspired Newton and Seale to establish the
Black Panther Party. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the Black Panther
Party used study groups to educate members about systemic racism,
political economy and the global struggle for liberation.

This important tradition continued into the 21st century. In 2008, for
example, educators in Chicago started a study group around Naomi
Klein’s _The Shock Doctrine_
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explains how the richest 1 percent have enriched themselves in the
neoliberal era by taking advantage of political and economic crises to
amass even more wealth and promote free market policies. Through their
discussions, they examined the forces driving the privatization of
public education and the urgent need for a new approach to unionism.
This group of educators formed into the Caucus of Rank-and-File
Educators, which soon ran Karen Lewis for president of the Chicago
Teachers Union. Her victory marked a turning point as the union, under
Lewis’s leadership, led some of the most significant teacher strikes
in modern history, using a social justice unionism lens to advocate
for teachers, students, and their communities.

In a time when forgetting history has been mandated by law, we must
remember the power of study groups as an antidote to isolation and
fear. As T4BL study group coordinator Jill Groff put it: “I would
share that when the apathy seemed pervasive and morale was low, being
in this group lit a fire of hope to keep me going and remember my why.
I so appreciate the fellowship and support of people who genuinely
love kids, _all _kids, and go above and beyond every day to fight for
them, to make lessons to inform and empower, and just to be in a space
with so many wonderful educators with shared values and goals.”

And that is exactly what communities of learning can provide: a fire
of hope. Not a saccharine hope that delivers neither substance nor
sustenance, but a hope rooted in a set of shared commitments — to
learn together, analyze together, organize together and act together
— for more justice in our classrooms and schools.

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This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
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to share and republish under the terms of the license.

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Jesse Hagopian is a Seattle educator, an editor for _Rethinking
Schools_ magazine, a founding steering committee member of Black Lives
Matter at School and serves as the director of the Teaching for Black
Lives Campaign for the Zinn Education Project. Jesse is the author of
the forthcoming book from Haymarket Books, _Teach Truth: The Attack on
Critical Race Theory and the Struggle for Antiracist Education_
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editor of _More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High Stakes
Testing_, and the co-editor of the books, _Teaching for Black Lives_,
_Black Lives Matter at School_ and _Teachers Unions and Social
Justice_. You can connect with Jesse on IG @jessehagopian
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www.IAmAnEductor.com [[link removed]].

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Ursula Wolfe-Rocca is a high school social studies teacher in
Portland, Oregon. She is an editorial board member of _Rethinking
Schools _and has worked on a variety of Zinn Education Project
campaigns.  

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* Education; Study Groups; Teaching Anti-Racism; Social Change;
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