Is There a Difference Between the Degree to Which African-Americans are Studied in Represented Rural, Suburban, and Urban School Districts?

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which African-American history is presented in a variety of elementary, middle, and high schools. Ninety surveys were distributed in urban, suburban, and rural school districts in western New York. The subjects were classroom teachers who responded to the surveys. The survey was designed to find out how teachers are representing African-Americans in their classroom. An analysis of the data from the surveys indicates all the subjects in the study are representing African-Americans in their classrooms. However, teachers in urban schools have a greater representation of presenting African-Americans than teachers in suburban and rural schools. Teachers represented African-Americans through books with multicultural characters and Black History Month. Teachers were exposing African-Americans by including self-selected books in the classroom library for independent reading. Also, teachers included read-aloud stories that represented multicultural characters.