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The controversy surrounding Critical Race Theory (CRT) is just one of many contentious themes shaping the present state of our educational system, impacting a variety of academic disciplines. Legal scholars and social scientists insist that critical race theory is neither an extension of Marxist ideology, nor a pedagogical tool designed to instill feelings of self-loathing in white children, as maintained by many CRT opponents, but rather, as PSU’s own Dr. Marvin Lynn notes, “a field of studies within the law . . . mostly taught in law schools and in graduate schools of education.” In spite of these rebukes, educators who have attempted to lead conversations about racial issues with their students are regularly met with hostility from parents—sometimes with severe professional consequences.
Focusing on the experiences of educators in the field of history and other related disciplines, this talk brings together a panel of professors and teachers to engage in a conversation about their personal experiences, pedagogical strategies, concerns, and potential solutions for teaching challenging, controversial, and emotionally-charged topics in an era of divisiveness, misinformation, and educational inequities.
MODERATOR: Gabriel Lopez
Dr. Marvin Lynn is Professor of Education and Black Studies at Portland State University and served as Dean of the College of Education from 2017-2021. A nationally recognized and highly cited scholar, his research critically examines race in schools, the practices of Black male educators and best practices for advancing teacher diversity in the US. He is the lead editor of Handbook of Critical Race Theory in Education (2nd ed., Routledge Press), which features the scholarship of the most prolific scholars in the fields of education and the law. He has been quoted or featured in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, BBC News, Fox News, and other outlets. His research has also been recognized by the American Educational Research Association, the Critical Race Studies in Education Association, and the University of the Free State in South Africa. This July, he begins a new role as Dean of the School of Education & Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver.
Katy Barber is a Professor of History and teaches courses in U.S. West, Pacific Northwest, and public history. She is the author of In Defense of Wyam: Native-White Alliances and the Struggle for Celilo Village and Death of Celilo Falls and Nature’s Northwest: The North Pacific Slope in the 20th Century (with William Robbins). Her award-winning article about settler sovereignty formation in Oregon appeared in the Oregon Historical Quarterly’s special issue on white supremacy and resistance in Winter 2019. Student community-based public history projects include a multi-faceted effort with the Chinook Indian Nation to document their history (chinookstory.org) and a project on residential segregation in Oregon in partnership with the City of Portland, Clackamas County, the Community Alliance of Tenants, and Vanport Mosaic. Her current research examines the overlapping histories of New Thought, American race and gender construction, activism, the politics of passing, eugenics, and nationalism through the career of one spiritualist, his followers, and those who persecuted him.
Hannah Reynolds has been teaching Social Studies and coaching Speech and Debate for the last five years at Neah-Kah-Nie High School in Rockaway Beach, Oregon. Living and working in a rural, predominantly white community has shaped her approach to teaching history, geography, and economics through a lens of social justice. In her role as the Queer-Straight Alliance advisor, she has contributed to her school district’s bias incident response protocol and various equity initiatives. Hannah is also finishing her Master’s in History through Portland State this Spring, and will be moving onto a doctoral program at Northwestern University in the fall.