Teach James Baldwin Teach Claudia Rankine Teach bell hooks Teach Assata Shakur Teach Ralph Ellison Teach Zadie Smith Teach Octavia Butler Teach Joy Degruy Teach Alice Walker Teach Angela Y. Davis Teach Chimamanda Adichie Teach Zora Neale Hurston Teach Maya Angelou Teach Toni Morrison Teach Zadie Smith

These are names from the top of my head, authors I’ve read this year, and books sitting in front of me on my To-Be-Read list. It is not all inclusive.

Last year, I did an activity with my juniors. This is how it went:

Get out a pen and a paper. Write down as many white authors as you can think of. From school, outside of school, anywhere. Write down as many black authors as you can think of. And so on, including Asian authors, Native American authors, LGBTQ+ authors, etc etc.

Then I asked them to mark the male and female authors. The activity continued.

Stand up if you have more male authors than female authors. Everyone sit down. Stand up if you have at least one black author list. Stay standing if you have two written down. Stay standing if you have three written down.

Continue for EVERY group of authors.

It’s clear to see what’s happening.

Curriculums have been whitewashed. Purposely.



If my students read a majority of white authors in every school, every grade, and every class they’ve been in, why shouldn’t they read solely authors of color in my class?

Just a side note: I realize schools vary greatly on the amount of freedom teachers are given. I was lucky enough to have some freedoms in the schools I taught at this year. I don’t know what will happen next year. This post is not meant to place blame on any one person or school system. It is meant to open the door: these conversations need to be happening, with teachers, with students, within departments, within schools.