“I never knew this was here”: White epiphanies, difficult history, and pedagogy

Abstract

Teacher decision-making is a key component in teaching difficult history. In this instrumental case study, we examined how pre-service teachers (PSTs) encounter difficult history at a local historic site. The findings showed PSTs gained important difficult history content knowledge, yet the learning centered white racial epiphanies instead of the experiences of oppressed people highlighted in the local difficult histories we encountered. These findings prompted us to interrogate our teacher decision-making in planning and teaching local difficult histories. In this article, we extend the difficult history dialogue by examining how teacher decision-making allows or disrupts the centering of whiteness in difficult history pedagogy.