Reckoning with white supremacy and anti-Black racism in the Virginia US history standards

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This study is an ethnographic content analysis of the Virginia US History Standards of Learning, grades 4–12. We used Yosso’s (2002) framework of a critical race curriculum (CRC) to better understand how white supremacy and anti-Black racism are portrayed in the standards. Results indicate that racialized representation is highly skewed in favour of white men, who comprise 70% of the individuals in the curriculum. White people are mostly portrayed as individuals and almost never as a racialized group, whereas Black people are mostly portrayed as a monolithic group and less often as individuals. Our close reading of the standards identified several tactics that promote white supremacy, including: avoiding accountability, playing the victim, and Confederate lost cause propaganda. We also identified tactics that sustain anti-Black racism, including: Black messiahs, illusions of inclusion, and silos of Black victimhood. There are many units that portray Black people as the victims of anti-Black racism, but white people and their social institutions are never portrayed as the creators, enforcers, or beneficiaries of a racist society. This reckoning is a step towards new standards that are centred on social justice, diverse perspectives, and full humanity for all groups.