Reckoning With Honest History Through Ongoing Education
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“Safe Saturday” Conversations About Race
The classroom isn’t the only place for learning honest history. In various community spaces—including virtual ones—many people are reckoning with our nation’s history of anti-Blackness and white supremacy. They are making connections between the past and present, as well as searching for liberatory ways forward.
Teresa L. Reed, Ph.D., launched a series of “Safe Saturday” conversations about race in the summer of 2020, spurred by the local police killing of Breonna Taylor combined with the volatility and isolation of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this new article for Learning for Justice, Reed shares her reflections on her experience creating this intensive, interactive learning space: “If white people must be self-taught about racism, they can too easily opt out of engagement beyond the text. The deepest, most impactful learning is interactive, and for white people to really understand what Black people often experience, they must be in the same space with Black people—engaging in difficult conversations, listening, asking, learning, and, perhaps most importantly, feeling. Feeling is where empathy begins.”
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A Conversation on Race, Love and Hope With Kwame Alexander
On Friday, March 17, at 5:30 p.m. CDT, please join the SPLC’s Civil Rights Memorial Center for a discussion with Kwame Alexander, a poet, educator, producer and bestselling author of dozens of books. Alexander's most recent book, An American Story, was published this year and “tells the story of American slavery through the voice of a teacher struggling to help her students understand its harrowing history.” The conversation will be livestreamed at SPLCenter.org and on the SPLC’s social media platforms.
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Educators: Apply to Join a 2023 LFJ Professional Learning Institute
This summer, LFJ will be hosting two Professional Learning Institutes for educators: one in Jackson, Mississippi, focusing on Critical Practices for Social Justice Education and the other in Montgomery, Alabama, focusing on Teaching Hard History: American Slavery. These will be low-cost, weeklong, immersive, place-based learning experiences that will support educators’ capacities to implement social justice education in their practice. Learn more about the institutes and how to apply here.
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This Conversation Is Anti-Racist
After spending nearly two decades doing anti-racist work with elementary students, primarily as a Montessori educator, Tiffany Jewell took just 3 ½ months to write her first children’s book, This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action and Do the Work. In this Q&A with LFJ, Jewell details the origins of her book and shares key takeaways for students, teachers, parents and caregivers, and other readers.
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The History of Whiteness and How We Teach About Race
This episode of LFJ’s Teaching Hard History podcast takes a deep dive into the creation and enforcement of a U.S. racial binary that endures today, featuring important context from historian Ed Baptist and a look at Black resistance as a force for political change. The episode also considers a probing question for educators to answer before they engage with children: “What did you learn about race when you were younger?”
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Subscribe Now for Learning for Justice’s Spring Magazine!
LFJ’s spring issue, “The Power of Place,” is coming in May. Subscribe now to receive your free print copy! And don't forget to download and share our recent fall issue.
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Professional Learning Workshops
LFJ offers virtual open-enrollment professional learning workshops for current K-12 classroom teachers, administrators and counselors, and for anyone who coaches classroom teachers and administrators. Spring workshops are now open. Register today!
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Write for Learning for Justice!
LFJ is always eager to showcase engaging storytelling drawn from our community of educators, advocates, students and families. Check out our available opportunities here.
Currently, we are particularly interested in submissions for our Story Corner section. These short stories (600-800 words) are intended to be read aloud for students in the early grades and must cover topics that are appealing to children. They can be fiction or nonfiction; however, they must use age-appropriate vocabulary and sentence structure. Learn more and find out how to contribute here.
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Add Our New Email Address to Your Contacts
You may have noticed we updated the email address from which you receive our emails. To help emails from Learning for Justice avoid your spam filter, add [email protected] to your contacts. As always, you can reach us directly at [email protected] with any questions.
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Have a comment, question or idea for Learning for Justice? Drop us a line at [email protected].
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