Teaching Diversity

Audio files

Click on the image to connect to a set of audio files to listen to students from a nondiverse community reflect on concepts of diversity

Ruby Bridges: The Problem We All Live With

The Problem We All Live With-- Past and Present?

Examine Rockwell's portrayal of the desegregation of schools. Click on the image to hear Ruby Bridges' discussion of her experience. Describe your reaction.

Another wonderful resource is Through My Eyes, written by

Ruby Bridges.

No Struggle, No Progress

(Frederick Douglass, 1857)
The whole history of progress of human liberty
Shows that all concessions
Yet made to her august claims
Have been born of earnest struggle.
If there is no struggle
There is no progress.

Those who profess to favor freedom,
And yet deprecate agitation,
Are men [and women] who want crops
Without plowing up the ground,
They want rain
Without thunder and lightning.
They want the ocean
Without the awful roar of its waters.
This struggle may be a moral one;
Or it may be a physical one;
Or it may be both moral and physical;
But it must be a struggle.
Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never did, and it never will.
Find out just what any people
Will quietly submit to
And you have found the exact measure
Of injustice and wrong
Which will be imposed upon them,
And these will continue till they are resisted. . .
The limits. . . are prescribed
By the endurance
Of those whom. . [are] oppress[ed].
Men [and Women] may not get all they pay for
in this world, but they pay for all they get.
If we ever get free
from the oppressions and wrong heaped on us,
we must pay for their removal.
We must do this
by labor,
by suffering,
by sacrifice,
and if needs be by our lives and the lives of others

Teacher Resources . . . Films

Here is a list of films that are appropriate for exploring diversity themes. Check the ticket icon below to connect to the Internet Movie Database for reviews and ratings to be sure that films are grade-level appropriate.

Please make this a dynamic list - click on comments and add your favorite, thought-provoking diversity film.

A Gentleman's Agreement
A Raisin in the Sun
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Amistad
An American Tail
Conrack
Cry of the Beloved Country
Daughter From Danang
Ghosts of Mississippi
Glory
Inherit the Wind
Life is beautiful
Matewan
Philadelphia
Real Women Have Curves
Remember the Titans
Roots Vol. I
Roots Vol. II
Roots Vol. III
Roots Vol. IV
Roots Vol. V
Roots Vol. VI
Ruby Bridges
Schindler's List
Soul Man
South Pacific
Stand and Deliver
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
The Color Purple
The Crucible
The Joy Luck Club
The Long Walk Home
The Ox-Bow Incident
The Power of One
The Scarlet Letter
Tuskegee Airmen
West Side Story
Whale Rider
White Nights

A Grassroots Attempt ...

NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press WriterFriday, March 15, 2002
(03-15) 12:24 PST DENVER (AP) --
A basketball team trying to make a statement about racist mascots with its nickname, the "Fightin' Whites," is being flooded with e-mails from Caucasians who think it's funny and others who say it is racially insensitive.
Response was overwhelming after the University of Northern Colorado intramural team in Greeley said it would sell T-shirts with the name and a picture of a smiling white man, along with the phrase "Every thang's gonna be all white!"

(To view the rest of the A.P. article, click on the mascot picture.)

Million Man March

The Million Man March: A Catalyst for Improved Racial Relations?

Click on the image above and read about the various perspectives and commentaries about the Million Man March.

What was the purpose of the Million Man March? How did it affect people's thinking?

Rationale for Diversity in Non-Diverse Communities

Question: What do our Districts (and many others) have in common? They are remarkably homegenous. For example, examine the following U.S. Census data (2000):

A small suburban town

- Brookfield, CT (Pop. 15, 664)

- Newtown, CT (Pop. 25, 031)
- North Salem, NY (Pop. 5,173*)
- Wilton, CT (Pop. 17,633)

A wealthy town (Median household income)

- Brookfield, CT ($89, 738)
- Newtown, CT ($90,193)
- North Salem, NY ($100,280)
- Wilton, CT ($134,404)

A racially/ethnically homogeneous town (% white population)

- Brookfield, CT (95.3)

- Newtown, CT (95.1)
- North Salem (95. 4)
- Wilton, CT (95.5)

* Note that the North Salem Central School District actually draws students from a number of different town including all or parts of North Salem, Brewster, Southeast, and Croton Falls.

For teaching information on how to fight hate and promote tolerance in your classroom, click the globe.

What is Multicultural Education?
Banks (1993) defines it as “a total school reform effort designed to increase education equity for a range of cultural, ethnic, and economic groups”.

Why have a Multicultural Education program in a Non-Diverse School?

The United States is becoming increasingly diverse. By the year 2020, one of every two students will be a person of color (Banks, 1991). Colleges and business are also reflecting this increasing diversity.
Studies show that, next to parents, teachers can have a powerful effect in shaping students’ attitudes and beliefs on topics such as tolerance and respect for other cultures (Chisholm, 1994, Tiedt & Tiedt, 1995).
Many schools without a diverse population often taken no action or little action (e.g., Diversity Day) in terms of multicultural education (Irwin, 1999).
Issues such as race continue to be controversial and relevant in modern America. This is true for children as well as adults. In a recent survey, 45% of students said that they “had personally experienced prejudice in the past year” (Teens and race, 1995).
Teachers are charged with educating all children regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or culture. By doing this, we will help to reduce or eliminate the achievement gap beween majority (White) and minority students.

Should our schools go beyond Multicultural Education and attempt to increase diversity in schools? There is much evidence that the answer should be YES:

Segregation, regardless of the cause, imposes on individuals a distorted sense of social reality (Reid, 1949), blocks communication and increases distrust and suspicion between groups (Newcomb, 1950), and perpetuates stereotypes that can lead to possible violence (Lee & Humphrey, 1943).
A majority of social scientists feel that segregation and oppression not only harms minorities but the majority group as well (Deutscher & Chein, 1948).
Desegregated schools have multiple benefits for Black children (vs. Black children in segregated schools). These include greater attendance and graduation rates from majority -White colleges (Astin, 1982), better jobs (Wells, 1995), somewhat higher incomes (Rubinowitz & Rosenbaum, 2000) and more friends and positive attitudes towards Whites (Eaton, 1996).

Black Hollywood

Black American Representation in Hollywood

Click on all of the images to learn more about these images in Hollywood.

Describe your thoughts about how Black Americans have been portrayed in Hollywood.

Herron's Nappy Hair

Nappy Hair: Talking About Cultural Differences in Schools

Click on the image to the left.

Read about the book and the contraversies about using the book in today's classroom.

Describe your reactions to this issue.

Brown v. Board

Brown v. Board

Click on the image above to learn about the Brown v. Board court case.

Examine the text, pictures, and audio clips.

What impact has this court case had on schools today?

A Dream for One Day...

Martin Luther King Junior:
Where is his dream today?

Click on the photo of Martin Luther King Jr. Read and listen to his "I Have a Dream" speech.

How does his message pertain in today's society--both in and out of school?

The American Dream

The American Dream: Equal For All?

Langston Hughes shares his view of the American dream through his poetry.

Click on his pictures to read his poems: "Dreams," "Dream Variation," "I Too, Sing America," "Let America Be America Again," and "Dreams Deferred."

How does the dream and the pathway to reach the
dream differ for Black and White Americans?

Social Justice

Schools and Education:
A place for social justice?

Read the cartoon to the left. Click on the image to read the complete transcript that accompanies the cartoon. Scroll down to the CASE STUDY. Click on the link below the cartoon to get to the transcript.

Is this social justice? What would have done in the boy's place?

Brown vs Board of Education

These 4 political cartoons were published in 1954 after the Brown vs Board of Education CaseWhat is the artist's message in the cartoons? Is there a political bias in the cartoons? Who would agree with the message? Who would disagree?
For more information click on cartoon images below.

The Ebonics Debate

Comment on the issues relevant to the debate over using Ebonics in education.

For one view read the article published by the Association of Black Psychologists.

(Click on the Ebonics image at right)

Our Culture

Sports...
Sublimated Messages...

Are there aspects of our culture that promote racial inequality?

"Racism Among Sports Fans Extends Beyond the Loudest Voice Among Them"
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/20031003shelly1003p1.asp
(An editorial news article to consider.)

Diversity in the Workplace

Do corporate policies promote diversity?

"Diversity in Higher Education: Why Corporate America Cares"
Anthony P. Carnevale
Vice President for Public Leadership
Educational Testing Service
http://www.diversityweb.org/Digest/Sp99/corporate.html

"Birds of a Feather..."

Share your thoughts...

Racism and the Police

Racism and the police

Theory of Evolution

Does the debate over the teaching of evolution have racist implications?

A link that poses questions about evolution and racist undertones. Are the claims well founded?
http://www.soulcare.org/Creation/Sciam-Racism.html

Access To Higher Education

Are colleges and universities taking legitimate steps towards creating diverse student populations?

For an interesting look into one college student's view, click on the "Y."

Racism and War

Is war a vehicle used to promote racism?

Click on Uncle Sam to read Ed Morales's views on military recruitment and minorities.
"Military Luring Black and Latino Youth With Hip-hop"
By Ed Morales

For an alternative view click on Charlie Rangel's picture.
"Rangel Introduces Bill to Reinstate Draft"