Despite limitations and challenges, teaching about difficult histories is an essential aspect of social studies courses and units across grade levels. This practical resource highlights stories of K-12 practitioners who have critically examined and reflected on their experiences with planning and teaching histories identified as difficult.

Contents Foreword Cinthia Salinas ix Introduction: Framing Difficult Histories 1 Lauren McArthur Harris, Maia Sheppard, and Sara A. Levy PART I: CENTERING DIFFICULT HISTORY CONTENT 13 1.  Representing Difficult History Through Images and Narratives With Museum Partners: Learning and Teaching at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum 15 Rebecca L. Rosen, Kevin W. Meuwissen, Megan C. Jones, and Jennifer M. Lagasse 2.  Rethinking the Teaching of Black History: Teachers, Students, and the Development of a Black History and Literature Course Using a Black Historical Consciousness Framework 28 Gregory Simmons, LaGarrett J. King, and Mary Adu-Gyamfi 3.  Teaching About the Nanjing Safety Zone to Introduce Human Rights 41 Jing A. Williams, Christian D. Pirlet, and Mary Johnson PART II: CENTERING TEACHER AND STUDENT IDENTITIES 53 4.  “Step by Courageous Step”: A Preservice Teacher’s Understanding of the Story of Ona Judge 55 Amanda E. Vickery, Shalicia Hobby, and Marquita Foster 5.  Pacific Learners, Identity, and Difficult Histories: A New Zealand Case Study 68 Bronwyn Houliston 6.  Perpetual War as Difficult History: Teaching Against Militarism and for Peace 80 Scott T. Glew 7.  Teaching the Holocaust: A Search for Its Redemptive Value 90 Doran Katz PART III: CENTERING LOCAL AND COMMUNITY CONTEXTS 103 8.  From Praying Towns to the National Day of Mourning: Centering Indigenous Peoples’ Survivance and Resistance Within American History 105 Taylor Collins and Christopher C. Martell 9.  “When People Stay Silent, It Looks Like Newberry Is the Only One With This Problem”: Confronting the Difficult History of Racial Violence in an African American History Course 117 Elizabeth Yeager Washington, Catherine G. Atria, Jordan Marlowe, and Christina Aulino 10.  Comparing Historical Injustices: The Possibilities and Challenges of Teaching Multiple Injustices From an Anticolonial Perspective 129 James Miles and Rosie Thind 11.  The Paradoxical Qualities of Teaching Difficult History 142 Tyler Moon and H. James (Jim) Garrett PART IV: CENTERING TEACHER DECISION-MAKING 153 12.  “The 13th Amendment, It Don’t Say That We Kings”: Teaching the History of Mass Incarceration and Criminal Justice Reform Through Hip-Hop Pedagogy 155 Kelly R. Allen 13.  Teaching Difficult Histories of Immigration at the Elementary Level 167 Tara Rich and Sohyun An 14.  “If You’re Not Talking About Those Things, You’re Not Talking About History”: Interrogating and Discussing Secondary Sources 179 Lance Weisend, Colleen Fitzpatrick, and Stephanie van Hover 15.  “These Are Human Beings We’re Talking About”: 9th Graders Think and Write About the Middle Passage 191 Jennifer Hauver, Victoria Lisle, and Ga-Min Lee About the Contributors 204 Index 206

“The details that are revealed in this volume create a visceral experience for readers—a chance to peek into a teacher’s thinking and rethinking, and to hear the voices of students and their families….If we can follow the lead of educators included in this compilation, there is hope.” —From the Foreword by Cinthia Salinas, Ruben E. Hinojosa Regents Professor in Education, The University of Texas at Austin