Examining Cultural Barriers to Teaching Anti-Racist
History in the Rural U.S.
Elizabeth Yeager Washington and Travis L. Seay
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, USA
Published January 2024
Corresponding Author
Elizabeth Yeager Washington
ewashington@coe.ufl.edu
DOI 10.29173/assert66
Pages: 17-25
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Keywords Rural social studies, African American history, teaching about race
and racism, anti-Black racial violence, Whiteness studies, historical memory
How to cite this article (APA): Washington, E. Y., & Seay, T. L. (2023). Examining Cultural Barriers to Teaching Anti-Racist History in
the Rural U.S. Annals of Social Studies Education Research for Teachers, 5(1), 17-24. doi:10.29173/assert66
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Yeager Washington
I am Professor and Coordinator of Secondary Education and Social Studies Education
at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, which resides on the traditional
land of the Timucua people and the Seminole Tribe. After earning my Bachelor of Arts
degree from The University of Alabama, I taught middle and high school social studies
in Atlanta for five years, then earned my PhD from The University of Texas at Austin.
Last year I worked at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, as a Fulbright
Distinguished Scholar. My research interests include civic education, the teaching of
controversial issues and difficult history, and the teaching of social issues. My husband
and two of my sons are attorneys, and our third son is in college at Acadia University
in Nova Scotia. I am originally from Alabama and am a huge Bama football fan.
Travis L. Seay
Having taught high school and middle school social studies in Florida and New
York, Seay now teaches undergraduate methods and graduate courses on the social
studies curriculum. He researches and writes about intersections of race and
historical narration in the context of American schooling. Seay completed his
undergraduate work in education at The Florida State University and a Master of
Arts in History at Missouri State University. He earned his PhD at The University
of Florida.
Examining Cultural Barriers to Teaching Anti-Racist History in the Rural U.S.
Washington, Elizabeth Y. & Seay, Travis L.
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INTRODUCTION
Although research focusing on rural schools and race is scant, a handful of studies indicate that race matters a great deal
in rural history education. It matters particularly in terms of divergent cultural memories and uses of history (cf.
Nordgren, 2016; Seay, 2019) that students and teachers may bring to the classroom. This article summarizes studies of
rural White history teachers who contended with narratives of White dominance in the school and community (cf.
Castagno, 2014; Leonardo, 2009, 2013; Vaught, 2011). The teachers faced unforeseen difficulties engaging students in
sensitive topics, such as racialized violence and other historical systems of inequality that remain in the present.
THE RESEARCH
The overview of findings below operates partly as a framework for visualizing different cases of White dominance in
teaching cultures and partly as a summary of research on whiteness in history classrooms. It also reveals a pattern of
White dominance in rural education research: Rural history teachers in predominantly non-White communities are
underrepresented in the literature.
In developing summaries of classroom studies, we used an adaptation of the synoptic text method (Jupp et al., 2016;
Pinar, 2006). We sought plain expressions of textual meaning in classroom studies pertaining to the teaching of race-
related historical topics. The studies under review drew from classroom observation data as well as interview data
collected from research participants. Seay’s (2019, 2023) interviews relied partly on visual elicitation techniques (cf.
Barton, 2015; Boucher, 2018a, 2018b) that were designed to sustain difficult discussions about racialized violence.
FINDINGS & IMPLICATIONS
The term whiteness describes behavioral patterns, habits of mind, discourses, and cultural preferences that people
exhibit in different social contexts (Bonilla-Silva, 2012, 2014). Settings for White dominance in rural America have
included performances of racist caricatures, public lynchings, segregated public accommodations (including schools), the
policing of Black bodies, and discriminatory policies and practices in education (Anderson, 2016; Leonardo, 2009, 2013;
Roediger, 1991; Rosiek & Kinslow, 2016). Curricular materials water down or omit such topics (Brown & Brown, 2010;
2014). Among many Americans today, enactments of White dominance represent uncritical and at times fatal behavioral
holdovers from centuries ago. These enactments are particularly problematic in rural settings whose histories contain
racial violence, and where some people remember these histories and many forget. Within these differences commonly lie
misunderstandings and, sometimes, seeds of controversy. In the cases we examined, rural teachers faced sociocultural
tensions around race-related topics as they confronted curricular omissions, parental pushback, and students’ anti-Black
racist remarks. In addressing these enactments of White dominance, teachers encountered very different ways of using
knowledge in particular cultures of history (cf. Nordgren, 2016; Seay, 2019, 2023).
In some cases, teachers may encounter pushback if race-related issues are viewed as too controversial or difficult in
a rural setting with a traumatic past (Washington et.al, 2022). One case study by Seay (2019) focused on a white female
history teacher’s approach to historical racism and examined barriers to implementing racially conscious teaching. The
context was a high-poverty rural Florida high school with an equal mix of Black and white students. Early in her career,
the teacher’s colorblind belief in social equality had given way to a different perspective on race (cf. King & Chandler,
2016). She asserted that were it not for her experience of teaching in low-income, rural schools, she would never have
been aware of the extent of racial divisions in the United States. However, after a few years of attempting to teach history
through a lens of racial consciousness, she met significant resistance from a small group of White parents who claimed
that teaching African American history was “wrong”; their language intimidated her. As a result of these encounters, she
taught fewer lessons about African American history. In placating a minority of White people in the community, she
“pulled back” on potentially controversial topics and whitewashed her own instructional interpretation of the curriculum.
In effect, her teaching began to mirror her earlier colorblind stance.
Seay (2023) interprets these findings as aspects of historical culture and cultural memory (Nordgren, 2016) that
normalize whiteness (cf. Bonilla-Silva, 2014). In this particular case, the teacher’s narrative choices strengthened
connections between past and present that omitted stories of racial oppression and violence. Her choices aligned with
narratives of “universal values” and “universal experience” (Fitchett et al., 2015; Lipsitz, 1990; cf. King & Swartz, 2014)
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and were grounded in an uncritical concept of “nonviolence” (cf. Butler, 2020; Seay, 2023). The result was an
interpretation of the curriculum that appeased a particular preference for historical narration in her rural school setting (cf.
Bonilla-Silva, 2014).
Another rural teacher unexpectedly encountered difficulties when she found herself navigating “open” and “closed”
issues around race (Camicia, 2008; Hess, 2009). Washington & Humphries (2011) describe a White female history
teacher in a predominantly White, working-class, conservative community in rural Florida. This teacher was mindful of
race-related issues and wanted her students to engage with difficult history. However, in a class discussion, a few of her
White students indicated that they viewed as “open” specific issues around race – slavery and biracial marriage – that
most people today would consider as settled. These seemingly settled issues became “controversial” within this particular
setting because the students in question openly expressed racist viewpoints, thereby marginalizing or excluding their few
Black classmates. The teacher concluded that she needed to make the distinction between “open” and “closed” topics
more explicit when addressing issues related to race. She wanted to minimize the possibility that students might share
opinions that are considered racist in the larger society and that could damage the classroom community (Washington &
Humphries, 2011).
In other cases, White teachers’ unwillingness to critically interpret the curriculum may hinder inquiry about racism and
thus reinforce master narratives about race and racial violence in the rural South (Washington et.al, 2022). Chandler and
Branscombe (2015) studied three White male U.S. history teachers in rural northern Alabama who “taught about conflict
in non-conflictual ways,” in part by reinforcing colorblind perspectives (Chandler & Branscombe, 2015, p. 61, 76). The
teachers were aware of topics related to racism and violence in history; they were unwilling to critically engage students
in making sense of these topics. Their main barrier to critical engagement was a vague and undefined racist terror that the
teachers wanted to avoid in class. Ostensibly, their decisions to pull back the curricular reins were meant to protect
students of color in the classroom. However, the lack of student engagement, teachers’ self-censorship, and the discussion
of fear in teaching particular historical topics also indicate patterns of White dominance in the rural social environment
(see Leonardo & Porter, 2010).
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS
Rural school settings are especially fertile ground for studies that investigate teachers’ and students’ cultivation of
historical knowledge. Further research that analyzes teachers’ planning, curriculum, pedagogy, and relationships with
students would inform the education of preservice teachers in rural settings as well as identify local needs for supporting
the professional learning of rural inservice teachers. Teachers can carry out such rese as a series of self-studies/critical
reflections or as group studies within departments. Research should be informed by sociological and historical knowledge
about the rural school community.
Practical Suggestions
We offer the following suggestions for teaching about history and race in rural settings:
In some southern rural schools with a history of racial violence (Anderson, 2016; Hahn, 2003), Black and White
descendants of victims and perpetrators might be together in a teacher’s classroom. Some students’ family
backgrounds influence their beliefs about the causes of the Civil War, the Jim Crow era, and racism in the U.S.
today. Teaching about race and racism in such settings may be very personal for some students, and teachers
should plan for these possibilities (Washington et.al, 2022). Planning can include taking advantage of local archival
sources, constructing a regional and local narrative about Native American and African American experiences, and
creating opportunities for students to engage these narratives with stories of settlement from their families’ past (cf.
Sleeter, 2015; Tieken, 2008).
The New York Times (2022) has an excellent collection of resources on teaching about race and racism that can be
applied especially to rural students. Some of the question prompts for students to investigate and reflect on include:
How would you describe your identity?
What assumptions have people made about you based on your race, religion, gender, the way you dress, or
anything else?
What does your accent say about who you are?
How do you connect to your heritage?
How much has your ZIP code determined your opportunities?
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Examining Cultural Barriers to Teaching Anti-Racist History in the Rural U.S.
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Does your teacher’s identity affect your learning?
In addition, there are some compelling topics that rural students may have unique perspectives on:
Memorials and names of buildings
Students’ views on race and racism
Learning about slavery in the U.S.
Racial diversity by neighborhood
School segregation and educational inequality
Missing indigenous women in rural areas
Teachers benefit from understanding which race-related topics in particular are challenging for them, and why. We
recommend exercises in the Learning for Justice publication “Let’s Talk!” (Learning for Justice, 2023). This
resource provides guidance on, among other things, helping teachers examine their own beliefs about race, helping
students talk about whiteness, participating in critical conversations on controversial issues, and dealing with
strong emotional content.
Finally, we recommend the book, Thinking About Teaching: A Rural Social Studies Teacher’s Path to Strive for
Excellence (Jakubowski, 2023). The book provides an experienced teacher’s perspective that can benefit both
practicing and pre-service teachers in its discussion of such topics as civic participation, digital literacy, social
issues inquiry, and local history.
The study of place and positionality can help rural teachers and students to critically engage with the past. Attention to
local factors that affect uses of historical knowledge can provide insight on cultural barriers to anti-racist teaching. Rural
teachers who pay attention and who contend with narratives of White dominance can help to fill gaps in local memory
and can resist pressure to avoid potentially controversial topics.
Q & A WITH Elizabeth Yeager Washington & Travis L. Seay
Question #1
Teacher’s Question:
Were any rural history teachers who successfully implemented anti-racist history included in the study? If so, what
can we learn from them? And if not, why not?
Elizabeth Yeager Washington & Travis L. Seay’s Response:
This is a fair question that requires a somewhat complex answer. The short answer is no, and this is probably due to
previous means of selecting research participants. Rural settings in the U.S. are most often, though not always
predominantly White, and most rural classroom research on history education has been conducted in such settings.
This is not to say that anti-racist pedagogies do not become activated in these settings. Yet in these settings, various
forms of resistance to teaching history through a lens of anti-racism frequently weave into stories about instruction.
Future studies of rural history education might extend into predominantly non-White communities. There may be rural
schools and classrooms where “anti-racist history” becomes “successfully implemented” and where anti-racist
teaching practices are broadly valued.
In classroom research that investigates barriers to developing anti-racist pedagogies, questions about teaching
cultures arise. Teacher training, interview responses, and instructional data figure into descriptions of “culture,” as do
factors of local history, student populations, administrative stances, and local tastes, preferences, and techniques
concerning historical narration. Thus, research questions related to the effective implementation of anti-racist
instruction, as well as to factors that bar teachers from a sense of effectiveness, should prioritize
ethnographic/historical data related to the cases under investigation. To date, very few rural studies of history
education have taken this approach.
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Question #2
Teacher’s Question:
What other resources, like Learning for Justice, would be helpful for rural classroom teachers?
Elizabeth Yeager Washington & Travis L. Seay’s Response:
Zinn Education Project. (Zinnedproject.org). Role-playing exercises, counternarratives, and primary sources. Inclusive
Teaching at The University of Michigan (sites.lsa.umich.edu). Lesson plans on anti-racism that can be adapted for
secondary-level instruction. National Rural Education Association (https://www.nrea.net/resources). Equity, diversity,
and inclusion resources; racial equity tools; resources for parents and caregivers; podcasts; resources for teacher
education programs; teacher professional development
Question #3
Teacher’s Question:
How do the textbooks and other district-provided materials factor into teaching anti-racist history? I would be
especially concerned about new/novice teachers relying solely on what they are given—how can we ensure they are
accessing high-quality materials that teach true history?
Elizabeth Yeager Washington & Travis L. Seay’s Response:
Focusing on the regular use of primary sources in teacher education programs and during in-service professional
development can help teachers to visualize the narrative limitations of many state-adopted texts. Partnering with
professional historians and other history educators who address historical racism—as workshop leaders on PD days, as
guest speakers, and as guides in selecting sources and developing compelling questions—can be transformative for
teachers. Although these decisions often fall to professors and administrators, we encourage teachers to have
conversations with their department heads and other educators about ways to present and investigate diverse
perspectives using historical evidence. In short, networking and assertiveness are keys to problematizing and
supplementing existing texts.
Question #4
Teacher’s Question:
Teachers can be hesitant to engage in controversial issues. How can teachers work with administrators to set
themselves up for success when engaging students in these conversations?
Elizabeth Yeager Washington & Travis L. Seay’s Response:
In preparing to engage in controversial issues, teachers should develop lesson plans that align with state instructional
standards. Teachers should be able to support their rationale for augmenting standards with sources, questions, and
activities pertinent to the controversial issues being taught. Additionally, instructional goals—at the classroom and
school levels—should be a regular topic of conversation between teachers and administrators. The more that
administrative and classroom goals not only converge but become articulated through regular communication, the less
friction teachers might expect
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Question #5
Teacher’s Question:
I know students can get emotionally hot in these kinds of conversations. How can teachers prepare themselves to
respond appropriately to students' emotions so that these conversations don’t go off the rails?
Elizabeth Yeager Washington & Travis L. Seay’s Response:
Setting classroom norms for discussion is of course an important first step. However, it is also important for teachers
to preview lessons with their students and do some of the emotional preparation ahead of potentially difficult
conversations. The inventory/reflection activities such as those in the Learning for Justice materials we recommended
can aid this preparation. Additionally, teachers can encourage students to view their conversations as vital to an
ongoing process of inquiry and learning. All knowledge is partial, in other words; dialogue about difficult social issues
is a way of fleshing out our respective blind spots of experience and knowledge.
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