Fostering Racial Literacy in Early Childhood Contexts
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Early Childhood Education Journal
Publication Date
11-18-2022
Abstract/ Summary
There is a critical need to disrupt the systemic racism that underlies educational inequities and support greater social justice (Croom, Journal of Literacy Research 52:530–552, 2020). One powerful way to do so is to foster racial literacy (i.e., the skill and practice of critically examining race and racism in teaching and in students’ learning [Sealey-Ruiz, Y. (2021). Racial literacy: A policy research brief. National Council of Teachers of English. Retrieved from https://ncte.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SquireOfficePolicyBrief_RacialLiteracy_April2021.pdf]). While building racial literacy is important across development, it is particularly important for young children. This is because children’s earliest experiences help shape their constructions of race (e.g., Bar-Haim et al., Psychological Science 17:159–163, 2006) and children as young as three are negatively impacted by racialized views (e.g., Dunham et al., Psychological Science 24:860–868, 2013). Although educators have made shifts to integrate multicultural and social justice content, most tend to avoid and/or experience discomfort talking about race and racism, thereby reinforcing many students’ inaccurate or shallow views of race and racism (e.g., “Racism is a thing of the past.”). To help early childhood teachers foster racial literacy, we first examine the current educational context with respect to race. Then, we discuss important considerations related to racial literacy in early childhood. Finally, we share practical actions and resources teachers can draw from to nurture racial literacy for themselves and their students.