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The teaching of American history is not neutral; teachers and textbooks often define what is important and what is not. It is through this historical subjectivity that stereotypes and biases emerge and ultimately persist. With relevance to African Americans and American Indians, such stereotypes can be culturally, politically and economically crippling. By promoting Critical Race Theory, which seeks to reduce marginalization through the recognition and promotion of historically disenfranchised peoples, American history teachers can redress stereotyping and enhance plurality in their classrooms. This descriptive article discusses the roots of historical stereotyping and offers ways in which such perceptions can be changed.
The issue of bias continues to haunt the school history curriculum. It stalks both teacher and pupil, leaving them confused and frustrated (DeMarco, 1995, p.6).
American Indians and other cultural groups are frequently either stereotyped, distorted or forgotten altogether (McCluskey, 1997. p. 3).
Introduction
If history has taught us anything, it is that America continues to struggle with race and racial stereotyping. From the macroaggressions of verbal and physical violence to the microaggressions of the unsaid comment or the unstated perception, race in America is used to legitimize the powerful and marginalize the powerless.
To understand racism and racial stereotyping in America, one needs only to examine the African American and American Indian historical experience. Slavery and the Trail of Tears speak for themselves. Yet history plays a vital role in presenting and understanding both slavery and the Trail of Tears. For history is a delicate amalgam of fact and fiction tempered by personal and pedagogical perception. Though the premise of history is rooted in empiricism, the teaching of history is not so objective. History classrooms are not neutral; they are contested arenas where legitimacy and hegemony battle for historical supremacy. And in these arenas, it is often the teacher and the textbook that ultimately decides what is historically important and what is not. The representation of African Americans and American Indians within history classrooms is dependent upon the willingness of individual teachers to present material that accentuates contributions, challenges historical givens, empowers the marginalized and, above all, raises awareness of and reflection upon race and racial stereotyping and the impact they have on the historical interpretations of American history. One way...