Recent scholarship has focused on the vital role of social movement organizations as key pathways into activism. Yet attention to how learning unfolds within social movement organizations has not been adequately studied. Informed by critical learning sciences, we investigated Kokua Hawaii, a social movement organization that catalyzed a near half…

Prior to the United States' (U.S.) illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom government in 1893 and illegal annexation in 1898, literacy rates and educational attainment in the Hawaiian Kingdom were amongst the highest in the world. In contrast to the educational history of the 19th century, the usurpation of the Hawaiian educational system…

Drawing upon the historical experiences of Filipinx American student and community activists in dialogue with the critical race literature, this article forwards a Filipinx Critical (FilCrit) Theory. The paper foregrounds the racial formation of Filipinx Americans framed within the complexity of global migration and the collective resistance to…

This study investigated how racism was represented in a unit on civil rights in three 11th-grade U.S. history classes. Using qualitative methods, I observed classroom lessons in three teachers' classes, collected curriculum and student work, and interviewed teachers and students to document and explain how racism was represented during the Civil…

Background/Context: Current historical understanding of Hawai'i's territorial period celebrates American education as a crucial influence on the islands' political development. In particular, the territory's public school system represents an essential institution for spreading democratic freedom, fostering social mobility, and, more importantly,…

In this paper we examine how the Abolition Movement's approach to non-violent resistance has been silenced in four American history textbooks. Despite extensive research that reveals an extensive network of groups dedicated to the peaceful abolishment of slavery little of this historical record is included in the textbooks. Instead, a skewed…

Research indicates that history-based curricula--specifically textbooks and trade books--about Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) are problematic and limited. If race relations are arguably America's long, unsettled tension, then Dr. King was one of its most impactful figures. Using the relevant historical research as a framework and the…

This article discusses Black teacher activism during Jim Crow through a case study of the Florida State Teachers Association. Few studies have examined the response of Black teacher associations to Jim Crow educational policies. This study examines inequities in school and teacher salaries and the FSTA's response by way of campaigns, rhetoric and…

Technological innovations and inventions are changing society and world culture so fast that it's often difficult to keep up. This article provides many web sites that will provide classroom teachers or even full social studies departments with information and lesson plans to integrate the importance of inventions and technology into their…

Purpose: This study aims to describe the lectores (readers) who read the world news and works of literature to workers in pre-World War II cigar factories in Tampa, Florida, and in New York City. The paper addresses the need for more examination of some neglected aspects of workplace learning by presenting a more critical approach to workplace…

Reformers during the antebellum period of American history frequently expressed contradictory ideas on the topic of female education. These contradictions illustrate the challenge historians face in pinning down the female educational vision held by antebellum-era reformers. That the classics comprised the core of colonial and revolutionary era…

This qualitative case study examines how fifth graders and their teachers participated in critical literacy instruction grounded in systems thinking on the topic of slavery. Systems thinking seeks to discover relationships and patterns in diverse underlying systems; critical literacy examines everyday texts, focuses on social justice and change,…

This article describes how elementary preservice teachers used four documentary films to think historically about the United States Civil Rights Movement. The author situates the descriptive case study within research about historical thinking and documentary film, identifying the need for using documentary film to think historically in the…

In the 1960s, "Muhammad Speaks" and "Black Panther" were widely known for their sensational rhetoric and calls for radical social reform. Yet they also served as a distinct voice in Black communities, providing critical and creative perspectives on a range of social issues--from education reform to police reform--that received…

A. Philip Randolph, the national president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was one of the driving forces behind the March on Washington Movement in 1941. In frustration over the federal government's lack of support for opportunities in the booming war industries and equality in the military, Randolph had begun to organize the March…