RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS: RACISM & CIVIL UNREST

Often it’s tough to find the right way to discuss racism and civil unrest with students. We want to provide a list of resources that can foster honesty, bravery, and boldness in these discussions. We believe teachers should be anti-racist activists in their work.

• Facing History and Ourselves has a long-standing legacy of creating comprehensive anti-racist resources for teachers. Here is the most recent one regarding the murder of George Floyd.

• Check out these resources from Critical Resistance on the abolition of the prison industrial complex.

• Teaching Tolerance has a ton of lessons for all ages around racism, classism, and sexism.

• CNN posted this article on how to discuss protests and racism with children

• The Smithsonian History Explorer has compiled several lessons for all ages on protests and civic action throughout the history of the United States

• Teaching for Change created “Resistance 101“, a series of lessons on how to challenge injustice

The Learning Network via the NY Times has several critical resources involving the death of George Floyd and systemic racism:

• Students learn of the murder of George Floyd and respond by taking action or artistic expression in this lesson

• Teachers and students learn about first encounters with the concept of race and racism in this lesson appropriate for younger ages

• Here’s an entire teaching unit on historical and current student activism and protest that can be used in response to this moment

• Want to cover school segregation and inequality to frame this moment? This lesson addresses that.

This is a great list of resources for educators the National Association of Charter School Authorizers compiled:

• How To be an Antiracist Educator

• 13th, a documentary analyzing the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom. 

• A Young People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. 

• Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup

• THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WHITE SUPREMACY CULTURE

• Avoiding Racial Equity Detours

• Creating an Anti-Racist Classroom

• The Urgent Need for Anti-Racist Education

PBS also has excellent resources around evaluating current events.

• This lesson covers the protests that were sparked after the murder of George Floyd

• This lesson follows the response from the National Guard and from President Trump and asks students to evaluate the response

Have an important resource to share? Email Jaclyn – jsuffel@edloc.org.