Teaching about Race and Racism Across the Disciplines

Rationale

Castro-Atwater says, “The school community in which teachers are employed can have an impact on their philosophy of how and when to discuss issues of race.” ²³ If the culture and climate of the entire school could potentially be changed, and for the better, it’s worth noting that research has found a significant relationship between positive views of school climate and level of increased racial awareness.²⁴

Why hair? Why race neutrality and colorblindness? Why expose students to such a topic that is sure to cause some controversy? My answer is short, why not? Lipsitz said it best, “Yet in the very locality where this toxic stew is being concocted, teachers, students, parents, and community members rooted in the Black Resistance Tradition of New Orleans have conjured up an alternative social vision and developed an oppositional social praxis by forming the learning community they call Students at the Center (SAC).”²⁵ This could be the start to that, but at the most basic of levels, at the elementary level. Students could with this unit, grapple with the challenges that are associated with the topic and discussions pertained to hair, but also foster a sense of connecting the unit to their own lives to write and research and collaboratively engage in a movement that has the potential to spark social justice for not only them, but students around the world. For too long students have been led to believe through literature, art, and music that only straight hair is beautiful. Until fairly recently, the natural hair movement has gained momentum and is spreading like a beautifully, nappy, wildfire. The 70s put the afro on the rise when members of black activist groups who wore them, became susceptible to arrests and interrogation. With certain hairstyles becoming more mainstream, because more than one ethnicity is wearing it, it starts to lose meaning. History has a way of repeating itself, so I owe it to my students to teach them these multifaceted, sometimes unspoken truths or lies, origins and histories of hairstyles and hair textures. Cleaver goes on to say, “Braids and cornrows — the new “natural” styles — were not welcome in many workplaces. (In 1981, Renee Rogers lost her job at American Airlines for wearing cornrows.  In 1987, Cheryl Tatum lost her job at the Hyatt hotel for wearing braids.)”²⁶ The early mid 80s is when the natural hair movement started to dissipate, primarily because the afro became a target when it was worn by activists.

I want my students to grow up and become citizens who do not choose to take stances of neutrality or colorblindness with those they come into contact with. I want my students to not grow up and think that it is okay to require a type of hairstyle that embodies only their views of beauty standards. Teachers across the world are very much in charge of helping to shape and mold future leaders of this world, so it is up to me, to expose my students to as much culture, art, music, and literature as I possibly can. Not just any, but those that are worthy of enhancing their repertoire of knowledge. Yes, these are hard times that we are living in. Yes, there is a divide amongst humans with regards to race, equity, privilege; or lack thereof. It is because of those things, students deserve to be taught things that will not feed into the mentality of favoring one hair type over others. A very beginner, basic of understanding hair for people of all backgrounds. To showcase that while hair is complex and full of culture and identity, there is a very unique experience or transformation of knowledge being passed on to students that embodies not an appreciation of it, but a respect for hair. To introduce to them the unspoken rules that sometimes are associated with hair:

1. Do not ask if it is real.
2. Do not ask if you can touch it.
3. Do not ask if they will change it.

The complexities that surround hair and the relationship to its owner is that, to discuss someone’s hair journey, they need to be trusted persons in order to give in great detail their triumphs or failures in it. At the end of the day, whether theirs or others’ hair has no lye, is nappy, is straight, people still might hate, but it’s really no one’s business but their own.