Handling the Past: How 5th Grade Students Use Historical Documentaries to Affirm Racial Identity

Children spend a significant amount of time in school where they construct identities (Lea 2014; Nasir, 2011). For Black children, there is a risk that the curriculum provided does not offer access to identities that empower or pedagogies that seek to emancipate (Camangian, 2015; Solórzano and Yosso, 2009). Therefore, it is important for teachers to examine the racial identities of their students critically and purposefully help to develop these identities in affirming ways (Lea 2014; Nasir, 2011). The primary purpose of this research is to describe an action research project of the response of 5th-grade students to viewing historical documentaries. Participants will use a questionnaire aimed at determining racial identity status. Students will watch documentaries about the worldly contributions of Black people, reflect, and then critically discuss the information. Students will write a reflection based on the group discussion. After viewing, discussing, and reflecting over a course of eighteen weeks, students will complete the identity status questionnaire again. This critical action research study aims to understand racial identity development, provide educators with a plausible avenue for increasing student learning, improve the researcher’s personal practice, and move toward providing an empowering and emancipatory education for all children, especially for Black children