Fourth Graders’ Guided Inquiry into Local Public Issues of Birmingham

Abstract

In this manuscript, the authors discuss a seven-day research project that occurred within the Birmingham metropolitan area where fourth graders researched the role that public issues played in the creation of two suburban school systems in their city. We coded student work samples to look for themes. Emergent themes from student work samples are described in the findings section. We conclude in our discussion section with some recommendations for future research studies to teach issues of race in U.S. history based on our findings.

Keywords:

• Teaching public issues
• white flight
• teaching local history
• elementary social studies
• U.S. patriotism
• coded racist rhetoric
• antiracist teaching

Disclosure statement

This project was initiated by the nonprofit group Kids in Birmingham 1963 (www.KidsInBirmingham1963.org) with support from the Alabama Humanities Alliance, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Alabama Humanities Alliance or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Kids in Birmingham 1963 initiated the project by inviting teachers to create and pilot lessons that use our first-person stories and that incorporate civil rights history into subject areas across the curriculum, such as language arts, art, and science. Kids in Birmingham 1963 (www.KidsInBirmingham1963.org) is a nonprofit organization made up of people, Black and white, who came of age in Birmingham at the height of the civil rights movement. They tell their stories to enrich the history and to spark actions for racial justice.