Centering Black Perspectives Within the Social Studies Curriculum: Carter G. Woodson’s Textbooks and the Teaching of Black Critical Patriotism

Abstract

One justification given by social studies teachers for avoiding teaching or incorporating race into their lessons is the absence of race from textbooks. Given that textbooks continue to play a significant role in social studies instruction, the authors analyzed how Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, a Black scholar of the early twentieth century, accounted for race in two of the textbooks he wrote for K–12 teachers. In this essay, we used the principles of Black Critical Patriotism as a framework to analyze two of Woodson’s textbooks—The Negro in Our History and Negro Makers of History. We concluded with a discussion regarding potential limitations while emphasizing the place for Woodson’s textbooks within social studies classrooms.