Teaching White Suremacy by Donald Yacovone

TEACHING WHITE SUPREMACY by award-winning author Donald Yacovone is a fascinating look at “America's Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity.”  It seems that much of the very public debate about critical race theory was based on misunderstandings and this text “flips” questions about curriculum content to look at how ideas about white supremacy are actually ingrained in culture and school texts. Yacovone focuses quite a bit of his discussion on the Reconstruction period which he says, “although intending to be a transforming democratic experience, ironically only increased the North’s desire to erect walls of racial segregation.” He also notes in detail how several cities and some Southern rural areas adopted Black history textbooks in the 1920s for their segregated schools. In another example, he describes mid-1940s research by Gunnar Myrdal, a Nobel Prize winning economist, as concluding “that white American democracy depended on Black subordination for social stability.” While Yacovone alludes to the 1970s as a time when “textbooks begin to reflect a shifting society and question how Americans had previously understood their past and themselves,” I wish there was more discussion of recent events, including efforts at banning books. The New York Times contrasted textbook content in this 2020 article which has an accompanying lesson for students.

A noteworthy aside is the poetry which Yacovone includes at the beginning of various sections. This ranges from lyrics from the musical South Pacific: “You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear, You’ve got to be taught from year to year…” to Amanda Gordon’s “The Hill We Climb:” “being American is more than a pride we inherit -- It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.” Yacovone includes copious notes (roughly twenty-five percent of the text) and at least ten pages filled with a Bibliography of Textbooks, many of which have late 1800s copyrights. Interestingly, he refers to The American YAWP in his notes; that updated (2021-2022) open source text is available online. Kirkus, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly all gave TEACHING WHITE SUPREMACY starred reviews, referring to it as an “outstanding contribution to the historical literature” and “essential reading.” I am looking forward to the many discussions TEACHING WHITE SUPREMACY will prompt. 

It has been a couple of years since I reviewed Layla F. Saad’s Me and White Supremacy and I am glad to see that ME AND WHITE SUPREMACY: YOUNG READERS' EDITION is now available. The text parallels the adult version with an introduction section that explains white supremacy followed by several chapters, each of which covers a concept (like White privilege) and offers a “Recap, Reflect, and Respond” activity with discussion prompts and questions. A glossary of terms and a terrific reading list with many excellent suggestions for both fiction and non-fiction titles is included. ME AND WHITE SUPREMACY: YOUNG READERS' EDITION received a starred review from Booklist which recommended this title for grades 6 to 10. That middle school focus seems appropriate. The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee will also be adapted for Young Readers and is expected to be published in January, 2023.