The intention behind Black History Month is to spotlight the experiences of black people in America— honoring both their achievements and their misrepresented or completely absent lived histories under oppression. As educators, how do we integrate this practice into our classrooms year-round, to honor and represent those who have been traditionally asked to assimilate to a dominant culture?
It is good to remind ourselves that students aren’t marginalized by their identities; they are marginalized by their instructors and peers for what their identities represent to those within dominating groups. As an example, a common descriptor frequently used on our campus is “minorities.” This term broadcasts Eurocentricity as a primary reference point. People of the Global Majority (PGM) is a phrase that replaces the vernacular reference term minorities. PGM ONE is one example of an organization that is committed to shifting this language. It reminds us that most members of the global population do not fall into categories of the social construct of “whiteness” and are not truly “minorities.” Black, Indigenous, and people with brown skin represent over 80% of the world's population.
Those who commit to teaching through a culturally responsive framework aim to consistently represent multiple perspectives in the content and structure of their courses. By including those perspectives, we communicate to students that how they frame their worldview matters. As their education expands, a perpetual reexamination of their perspectives is an expected part of the adventure. In Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer recounts a conversation with a professor in which she yearned to connect beauty to plant growth and survival. The professor dismissed her ideas, telling her to choose between art and botany. “It was happening all over again, an echo of my grandfather’s first day at school, when he was ordered to leave everything—language, culture, family—behind. The professor made me doubt where I came from, what I knew and claimed that his was the right way to think.”
We offer a few ideas for centering your classroom instruction in multiethnic frames of reference without tokenizing minoritized students. Start each class with a quote from a leader with a different cultural background from yours and explain why their thoughts impact your views on the world. After repeating this practice a few times, ask students to share one of their own favorite quotes through email or a discussion board. You can represent their ideas anonymously if they wish.
You can also spotlight various leaders in your disciplinary field; the SACNAS Biography Project is an online archive of first-person stories by and about Chicano/Hispanic and Native American scientists with advanced degrees in science. Becca has taken five minutes of class to share a scientist’s work even if their research doesn’t connect to the topic of the day. It is a moment to highlight achievements in the field and will open the minds of all students to who can make contributions to science. Again, ask students to share ideas with you via email. If they are allowed to contribute to the content of your class, they may be more motivated to engage vulnerably in challenging learning moments in your class. It is important to make this a weekly routine in your class to acknowledge the importance of representation.
Lastly, Donna would like to share a class activity that she designed as part of her forthcoming pedagogy article for West Virginia University Press. This Assumption Index activity will illuminate the student perspective on your field and their cultural framework to learning. While this activity is intended for the first few weeks of class, you might use it for a mid-semester check-in. You can address these assumptions to break down stereotypes and address positionality in your classroom, which could lead to the deeper reflective moments that are crucial to the development of critical thinking skills.