Teaching about Race and Racism Across the Disciplines

Introduction

Imagine your child being asked to sit out of a performance because of their hairstyle. No student or parent should be subjected to policies that intentionally shows disregard to one’s culture due to the style or texture of their hair. Unfortunately we live in a world where this was not an imagination but a grim reality. Pictured below is a photograph that was sent to my daughter, age 14 and it was the expectation that members have their hair styled similarly for a color guard performance. She was one of two persons of color on the team, so needless to say I was very much taken aback and had plenty of questions. Why is straight hair the standard of beauty? Why are no hairstyles being offered that showcase textures from all ethnicities? Why is there a colorblind approach being taken with regards to hair and styles and textures that are being chosen for performances? Who is making these decisions?

I needed and wanted answers, which inspired the reasoning for such a curriculum unit. It was mentioned in one of the seminars, during the intensive session, that transformation takes place when good things are happening in my classroom. People will begin to wonder what is going on in there. The best way to advocate for the students I serve is my voice, my platform, my experiences, my level of knowledge. I had to challenge myself on how I could unlearn colorblind ideologies. I had to push myself mentally through reading, researching, training, professional development, and teacher education. Jung-ah Choi contends, “According to the liberal discourse that has developed in the post-Jim Crow era, a good citizen is colorblind. Likewise, the prototype of a good teacher has been constructed around the ideal of colorblindness, and this ideal is manifest in comments such as, ‘I do not have stereotypes or prejudices,’ or ‘Everyone deserves an equal chance.’¹

Through this curriculum unit, I want to challenge my students and potentially other teachers who may use it in their own classrooms with their students. I am writing this curriculum unit to continue to learn, and to continue to grow as an educator. To promote and contribute to ways to eradicate systemic changes in the classroom with my students through art, music, history, and their knowledge of hair types, textures, styles, political power(s). Though it may seem gradual, and may change completely due to the pandemic and if or when my school district will enforce in person learning environments, something needs to be done to help with the current climate of the world. This curriculum unit could be that change.

(Image of photo sent to my daughter and my attempt at re-creating the hairstyle)

“Very few problems can be solved by pretending that they do not exist.” George Lipsitz asserts.² One problem that educators pretends does not exist is having a colorblind approach to education and with our students. Taking a stance of neutrality in the classroom, in our pedagogies, and in our ideologies is one problem that lends itself to many others. These problems unfortunately thrive in today’s society and become showcased rather proudly on social media outlets and comment sections of various digital platforms. This problem of living in a world that perpetuates this ideology of being colorblind is synonymous to being antiracist. The problem of pretending we do not see color when we see our students, divorces itself from being able to truly see the wonderful kaleidoscope that exists in each unique student we are lucky enough to teach. The pride in their appearance, the style or texture of their hairstyles, the swag of their way of dressing, the snap in their dialect when code-switching in how they speak is what’s being ignored when purposefully choosing to remain neutral, to say that you see no color when you see students. Lipsitz further contends, “The uncritical acceptance of colorblindness as the pervasively preferred response to racism perpetuates a long-standing history of failure by the legal and political systems to offer equal opportunity and equal protection of the law to all. It also demonstrates, however, a tremendous failure of the ways of knowing institutionalized in disciplinary research and teaching.”³ If colorblindness has failed the legal and political systems, one could surmise that it has surely had the same adverse effect within the educational system.

My students have witnessed their teachers’ hair in many different styles, as they are very observant. Hairstyles that have included natural hair, braids, extensions, wigs, or weaves. It is because of that, I can utilize my own hair as a springboard to exposing them to how hair traditions evolve or repeat themselves over time, how hair can be perceived as one’s crowning glory. Neal A. Lester goes on to say, “The implications and consequences of the seemingly radical split between European standards of beauty and black people’s hair become ways of building or crushing a black person’s self-esteem, all based on the straightness or nappiness of an individual’s hair.”⁴ I want my third grade students to engage in a brief history of hair because I want them to have an appreciation of differences in hairstyles and textures. Lester continues through reminiscing about his own mother’s wigs and the choices she made by further stating, “What interests me even now as I reflect on these early years at home, the 1960s and 1970s, is that neither my mother nor any of her many wig wearing women friends owned afro or braided wigs, or wigs anywhere close to black hairstyles and textures. Their wigs were always straight, long, and flowing.”⁵

When I have heard students putting one another down, by name calling, the only comeback I have is, “Friends do not put one another down.” This curriculum unit will enhance my own understanding so that I will have meaningful ways in which I can dissuade name calling as it relates to hair. I can bestow knowledge to my students as racial power, and as discussed in seminar, my students and I can collaborate and explore the vast realm of hair and nurture our student(s)-teacher relationship. Yasmin Jiwani articulates, “In the game of strategy and tactics, tactical interruptions, agitations, and ruptures are essential in the long war for social change and equity. They are essential in shifting the ground to enable the telling of new stories and engendering different ways of seeing the world.”⁶ My students can learn how to create and tell new stories that embraces their differences in hair styles and hair textures, normalizes the beauty of all things hair and not glorify or admonish what is perceived as the standard of beauty in terms of hair.

I want my students to learn how and why people may have chosen to straighten their hair or wear their hair in its natural kinkier state. Why some choose haircuts or dreadlocks, why some choose braids or extensions. I want to create a welcoming of dialogue, understanding and acceptance of their own hair choices and the hair choices of others. Many of them come to school with straight hair, and many of the teachers they encounter daily have straight hair as well. Brenda Ortiz-Loyala states, “Three main positions have emerged regarding the implications of hair straightening practices. The first position asserts that it ‘represents an imitation of the dominant white group’s appearance and often indicates internalized racism, self-hatred, and/or low self-esteem.’”⁷

Some of the research that I have done speaks to the history of when people began to straighten their hair and why some people felt the need to do so. I want my students to know that history plays a huge part in the culture of self-identity and the decisions they make. Madison Horne explains, “For centuries black communities around the world have created hairstyles that are uniquely their own. These hairstyles span all the way back to the ancient world and continue to weave their way through the social, political and cultural conversations surrounding black identity today.”⁸ Through the lens of this article, which as accessed through a website, students can explore how different hairstyles came about. It briefly and visually delves into how box braids, dreadlocks, and afro shape-ups were found in drawings and hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. The beauty that regaled Queen Nefertiti’s towering hairstyles and how she was an icon of feminists globally. It can be discussed how wigs symbolized rank, royalty, and wealth for both males and females alike. How Egyptian law used powerful influences that banned slaves and servants from wearing wigs.

Dreadlocks are more often than not, associated with 20^th century Rastafarian and Jamaican culture, but Horne clarifies this misconception by stating, “…according to Dr. Bert Ashe’s book, Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles, one of the earliest known recordings of the style has been found in the Hindu Vedic scriptures. In its Indian origins, the ‘jaTaa’, which means ‘wearing twisted locks of hair, ‘was a hairstyle worn by many of the figures written about 2,500 years ago.”⁹

Ultimately, I want my students to hold true to their convictions in whatever or however they choose to wear their hair. Moreover, I want my students to have an appreciation and tolerance of those who have chosen a different route for their own hair journey.

The unit, seems almost overwhelming at times, because of the topic. I do not want my students or their parents to be offended by any of the material I put before them to learn, nor do I want to be perceived as the spokesperson for Black people and for all things that have to do with Black hairstyles, opinions, or culture. I think the students will truly appreciate the children’s books that I have found thus far, to accompany the unit. The illustrations and stories are true reflections of the makeup of my students, and they absolutely love when they see themselves as book characters or authors. As Dan frequently reminded us fellows in seminar, I do not want to water down this unit by simply providing books with more characters who resemble the make-up of my classroom. I want myself and my third grade students to approach hairstyles with an open mind and to not shy away from them.

One of the guest speakers, Kenneth Smith, a high school music teacher said that some ways music could be productive in teaching were:

1. Music could provide a temporary experience of how the world can be, rather than what it is.
2. Music can be a space where we are free to imagine, where we are free to dream.

The same things could be said about students’ hairstyles if it were viewed as a form of art or if students knew some background history of hairstyles, be it their own, or of book characters. I try my very best to put emotion, real raw emotion, into most of my lessons. I see this curriculum unit shedding light on what some might deem a taboo subject and great conversations coming from it. As also discussed in Dan’s seminar, the authenticity of the audience plays an important role to students, to the nation. The hairstyles of the students will lend itself perfectly to the authentic encouragement of them to participate in expanding their own knowledge of the subject(s). It has been in my experience, that no matter what I map out or plan, it is the responses from my students that takes a lesson to the next level. We also discussed in seminar that it is definitely okay to not have everything figured out, Nataliya Braginsky mentioned that it is also okay to for lessons to be emergent and happen organically. My students are very much an extension of myself, they can read my body language and facial expressions very well. The history that is in some of the articles and websites used for this curriculum unit, will for sure evoke some emotions from all who participate in the learning of it. I plan on teaching my students the history of certain hairstyles, the terms used to describe the textures of hair, and the appreciation of their own hairstyle and the appreciation of the hairstyles of others.

I have never considered myself to be “woke” but after reading the book from Dan HoSang’s seminar and the articles suggested and researched on my own, I found myself being metaphorically, and rather urgently roused from my ignorant slumber. I owe it to myself and my students to bring this newfound awareness into my classroom. I have been tasked with the challenge of changing the future of America by teaching the youth of today.

According to urban dictionary, on urbandictionary.com, the definition reads as follows:

1. Woke (/ˈwoʊk/) as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from the African-American Vernacular English expression "stay woke", whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues.

While there is not a remedy as to what works best, what I can do in my classroom is educate myself and my students in an attempt to clear the muddy waters of  hair in terms of textures, advertisements for beauty standards, hairstyling practices, a brief history, and  some biases. There can also be some clarity as to emphatically knowing that there is definitely a grapple of power that people of color do not have and are sometimes forced into the standard of representation that mimics Caucasian counterparts. It is my hope that this unit will allow third grade students to understand that hair is in some ways, more than just hair. Hair can be viewed and taught in such a way that it dismisses the notion completely of being colorblind about it and instead of taking a stance of neutrality about hair, we can happily marry children’s literature, art, and music. There can be a disruption of teaching reading in a normal traditional manner. I can with intention, present ideas and strategies to students in such a way that it still focuses on hair as the main idea, but uses art, music, and history to drive that point.

To clear any foreseeable misunderstandings or misconceptions, I will not pretend to be an expert in this field and will shed some light on what exactly this means. Let’s start with defining the problems, with stating what the mere definitions of the words colorblind and neutrality mean.

1. Colorblind (adjective) /kuhl-er-blahynd/-showing or characterized by freedom from racial bias; not influenced by skin color.
2. Neutrality (noun) /noo-tral-i-tee/-the state of being neutral
3. Neutral (adjective) /noo-truhl/-not taking part or giving assistance in a dispute or war between others.

While I started out with only scratching the surface of the idea of hair, or where I wanted this unit to go, the more seminar sessions held with Dan and fellows during the two week intensive session, the more in depth I wanted to go. “Until the birth of my daughter, Jasmine, some ten years ago, I had never given head hair much thought.” Lester Remarks.¹⁰ I too shared that same sentiment and realized that I have been doing my students a huge disservice by not taking the time to expose them to a topic that is so culturally relevant to them. I had unknowingly taken a stance of colorblindness to one of the very things that showcases individuality, creativity, and art in every single one of my students, even me! Our hair! Their hair and mine was certainly something that we most often felt proud of, but I had witnessed students have self-doubts or sadness with their own. Unbeknownst to me, I had missed a most valuable teachable moment with my students, because I did not know that hairstyles and hair textures were so politically charged and held with such esteem and power. Nicquel Terry Ellis Charisse Jones wrote, “Black people young, old and in between have been rejected from jobs, schools and other public places because of the texture and style of their hair.”¹¹ Students may not be aware that the choices they make about their hairstyles and hair textures, someone could have them experience an unjust moment, because of opposing views.