Teaching Ethnic Studies Reading List
In October of 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 101 making Ethnic Studies a high school graduation requirement. This requirement begins with the 2025-26 school year.
I’m sure many educators are wondering where to begin. Be prepared for the PD (professional development) that is coming soon. You will be charged with developing courses to meet this new requirement. To help in this process, I provide a Top 10 List of books I found helpful in building a foundation of knowledge from which to start.
It is my hope that this list will give you a place to start on your academic journey to learn and help others learn about the important issues we face today. Multicultural education and ethnic studies are required subjects for our students to understand at a profound level. They need an opportunity to grow within the subject and see themselves in the stories and histories that they learn about. This change is what will help them thrive in the 21st century.
This list is by no means comprehensive, so let me know what books you are using in your Ethnic Studies classes in the Comments section.
Rethinking Ethnic Studies
Cuauhtin, Zavala, Sleeter & Au, 2019
Teaching Ethnic Studies should be approached with the same seriousness and commitment as any other academic curricular pursuit. When I first began teaching foundational courses in Ethnic Studies, I had a reader with seminal articles and others that addressed the major concepts of the field.
And yet, I still struggled to get a consistent structure in place that would provide similar educational experiences for all students, not just the ones lucky enough to be in my section of the course. This spring I will be teaching four sections of “Ethnic Studies 101”. During my planning, I decided to find at least one text that would provide the framework for the curriculum.
After much searching, and crowdsourcing online, I settled on this one. Rethinking Ethnic Studies is a required text for all my courses. It is one of the few books available that provides a structure to learn the history of the field, and a roadmap to navigate the learning of the major concepts. It is comprehensive and tries to make its appeal and relevance broad (teachers, students, and the general public).
The authors make it simple enough to select sections for use in the classroom to introduce students to the major tenets of Ethnic Studies. It is a required text for all the sections I will be teaching, and I hope to make this the required text for all the sections of “Ethnic Studies 101” on my campus.
I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir
Malaka Gharib, 2019
This is another text that I decided to make a required text as I worked on my course preparation for teaching “Ethnic Studies 101”. It is a graphics-based memoir of the life of an Egyptian-Filipino person. The title itself speaks to the realities of many first-generation students in our college classrooms.
Families make their way to the US and do all they can to ensure that their children have access to the “American Dream”. Even the DACA students are known as “Dreamers”. The book speaks to the multiple and intersectional identities that many of us embody: race, religion, culture, gender, etc. It is my hope that my students will find familiarity in Ms. Gharib’s story. I know I did.
They Called Us Enemy
George Takei, 2019
This is book finishes the list of books I will be using in my “Ethnic Studies 101” course. I decided to make it an optional text. This book was the one chosen by my campus as the Book of the Year that all campus community members would receive for free. The campus also has campus readings, group meetings, symposia, and other events that center the book and its themes.
It is a graphics-based memoir based on the life of George Takei, of Star Trek™ fame, a Japanese American whose family was interned during the US’s response of the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. I will reference it in my discussions of aspects of the Asian/Asian American experience in the US, specifically the unit on Manzanar.
An Introduction to Multicultural Education (6th Edition)
James Banks, Ph.D., 2019
I had about three weeks to prepare to teach a course of “Multicultural Education in the K-12”. There were no books available that provided a foundation to learn the major themes of the field. After some searching and crowdsourcing my faculty friends, I settled on this book. I made it a required text for all sections of the course.
This book is a foundational text on understanding the importance of multiculturalism. There are concepts, definitions, guiding questions, and examples of how to apply culturally responsive pedagogy in your curriculum, including math! It was simple enough to create weekly quizzes from the material. I highly recommend it. Each chapter ends with Reflection and Action Activities to help guide and reinforce the learning.
Language, Culture, and Teaching: Critical Perspectives (3rd Edition)
Sonia Nieto, Ph.D., 2018
This book was the second book I made a required text for all sections of my course “Multicultural Education in the K-12”. This book provides educators with the insight and awareness of the influence language has in the construction of the culture in your school and classroom.
As leaders in the educational space, teachers are not neutral entities. We influence the learning space, and how well our students will thrive. It was simple enough to create weekly quizzes from the material. I highly recommend it. Each chapter ends with References, Critical Questions, Activities for Your Classroom, Community-based Activities and Advocacy, and Supplemental Resources for Further Reflection and Study.
Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education (7th Edition)
Sonia Nieto, Ph.D., 2018
This book is another important contribution by Dr. Nieto to the field of multicultural education. It provides the rationale for connecting diversity as a promotor of academic achievement. We should not shy away from emphasizing multicultural education in the curriculum. It is a talent multiplier and amplifier so long as we keep in mind the sociopolitical context in which we all live.
Our students require us to be cognizant of this reality so that our instruction is meaningful for them. Multicultural education also informs our EQ – emotional intelligence – that is so vital for all to develop as we move through different professional and personal environments
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
Nikole Hannah-Jones, 2021
You must have been living under a rock this past year to miss the launch of this book. Ms. Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and creator of the 1619 Project, first published this work on the pages of the New York Times. Since then, it has spurred a podcast (which I use in my courses), and this book.
There is also talk about making this into a video project, so stay tuned for that! Please consider using this book as a way of informing your students about the history of the United States and the role Black people played in its foundation. It is as truthful an accounting of this history as I have ever read. I’m sure those of you who’ve read it already will agree.
The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans and How We Can Fix It
Dorothy Brown, 2021
Wealth is different from income. Wealth requires access to capital and an ability to invest. Race has limited the ability of Black and Brown people to have access to tax structures that allow wealth building.
Brown takes us through the history of the economic structures and the tax system in the US and how our unresolved issues with race have and continue to impact the ability for Whites and Blacks to have equal access to wealth and prosperity. Excellent book to introduce multiculturalism and ethnic studies into an economics and math classroom.
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria
Beverly Daniel Tatum, 1997
Understanding the social dynamics of school is paramount for any educator. I was first introduced to this book in graduate school, and it helped me better understand what I witnessed in the K-12 schools. Dr. Tatum takes us through the social dynamics of school as they are impacted by race.
She provides direct conversations on how race impacts the relationships between and within cultural and racial groups on campus are vital. Only through such dialogues can we truly provide the next generation of students the vocabulary and understanding to thrive in the 21st century.
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
Heather McGhee, 2021
This book provides an economic history of inequality. I “read” this book as an audio book, then later decided to buy it because I was making so many notes as I heard the book. Racism is seen as something that costs all of us both economic and emotional, and therefore should be acknowledged and addressed head on.
Ms. McGhee, an economist, presents an idea called Solidarity Dividend: the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply cannot do individually. Excellent book to use in math, statistics, and economic classes to provide a well-rounded approach to the numbers, charts, and graphs that students study.