"Please Stop Whipping Me": Writing about Race and Racism in an Early Childhood Social Studies Classroom

The purpose of this critical action research study is to examine how critical literacy, when used in the social studies classroom, can open up spaces where children construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct superficial notions of race and racism in an early childhood classroom. A nine lesson unit on African American history was developed and implemented in an urban 1st grade classroom. Data collection involved video observations, teacher research journal entries, and student writing samples. Findings indicate that students developed three kinds of written responses: (1) repressive, (2) resistant, and (3) retaliatory. Implications for practice are discussed.