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For elementary teachers approaching the topic of slavery, it can be tempting to focus only on heroes and avoid explaining oppression. But teachers’ omissions speak as loudly as what they choose to include. And what children learn in the early grades has broad consequences for the rest of their education. Dr. Kate Shuster guides us through the new Teaching Hard History K–5 framework from Teaching Tolerance. We also learn how four elementary teachers are beginning to use it in their classrooms.

Educators! Get a professional development certificate for listening to this episode—issued by Learning for Justice. Listen for the special code word, then visit learningforjustice.org/podcastpd.

And you can find a complete transcript on our website, along with resources to help you teach the hard history explored in this episode. Resources like these... 

Resources and Readings

• Teaching Tolerance magazine, "We Are Our Ancestors' Wildest Dreams"
• James Madison's Montpelier, The Mere Distinction of Colour (exhibition)

Kate Shuster

• Teaching Tolerance articles
• Teaching Tolerance, Teaching the Movement
• Teaching Hard History, K-5 Framework: Essential Knowledge

Bria Wright
Fifth grade, Raleigh, North Carolina, Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board

References:

• Teaching Hard History, K-5 Framework: Essential Knowledge #1
• Beyoncé, Freedom feat. Kendrick Lamar (video)
• Glenn E. Singleton, Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools
• Teaching Tolerance, My Multicultural Self

Marvin Reed
Third grade, Berkeley, California, Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board

References:

• Teaching Tolerance, Remembering My Four Friends 50 Years Later
• Teaching Hard History, K-5 Framework: Essential Knowledge #5
• Teaching Tolerance, The Story of César Chávez, Dolores Huerta and a Great Movement for Social Justice
• Teaching Hard History, K-5 Framework: Essential Knowledge #7
• English Language Arts (ELA) Standards
• Teaching Tolerance: Lesson, The Little Rock Battle for School Integration
• Sharon Draper, Fire from the Rock
• Teaching Tolerance: Feature, Beyond the Little Rock Nine
• Langston Hughes
• Maya Angelou

Alice Mitchell
Fifth grade, Boston, Massachusetts, Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board

References:

• Teaching Hard History, K-5 Framework: Essential Knowledge #12
• NEA, K-W-L Charts (Know, Want to Know, Learned)
• Teaching Hard History, K-5 Framework: Essential Knowledge #14
• Teaching Tolerance, Poster Warning Blacks in Boston: Kidnappers

Marian Dingle
Fourth grade, Atlanta, Georgia, Teaching Tolerance Advisory Board

References:

• Teaching Hard History, K-5 Framework: Essential Knowledge #15
• The New York Times: Nikole Hannah-Jones, The 1619 Project
• U.S. Supreme Court, Dred Scott v. Sandford
• PBS/WGBH, Africans in America: The Middle Passage

And you'll find a full episode transcript on our site.