Eroding White Supremacy: A Curricular and Humanist Approach to Bridging the Racial Reality Gap

Amidst the growing outrage of police brutality, white privilege, and racial economic, health, and educational disparities in the United States, social justice education is more relevant than ever. This chapter provides educators with an overview of how a humanist and counternarrative curriculum bridges the racial reality gap and provides greater capacity to not only discuss this nation’s racialized history but also constructively address contemporary issues. The curriculum focuses on the life’s work of six white historical humanists who worked in concert with Black or Native American activists at a time in history when these relationships seemed most unlikely—the early 1800s. Findings from a foundational study conducted with 79 undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students demonstrate the significance and impact of this curriculum in which the majority of these students’ perceptions shifted, even after only a one-hour workshop in which they learned about these cross-racial relationships. White students expressed positive gains from learning about white people who served as allies to people of color as they (a) identified with the humanists and (b) expressed the desire to learn from these white abolitionists as how they could potentially become agents of change today. Another finding from this study indicated that students of color felt encouraged that white people could be trusted to work with them on racial justice issues. Curriculum infused with models of desirable behaviors as modeled by humanists offers educators the opportunity to facilitate student growth, identify development, and promote capacity to use their privilege to benefit the well-being of all people.