Born Into These Crooked Ways: Black Men Secondary Social Studies Teachers’ Thoughts on American Citizenship and Teaching as Activism in the American Dirty South

Abstract

This interpretive case study used Black Critical Patriotism (Busey & Walker, 2017) as a theoretical framework to make meaning of two Black men secondary social studies teachers' thoughts on American citizenship, the purposes of social studies education, and the extent to which they taught for social justice amid anti-CRT legislation and discourse within the American Dirty South. Findings from the study indicated that the Black men secondary social studies teachers described America’s racist legacy yet America’s possibilities for reconciliation as informing their conceptualization of American citizenship. Furthermore, findings also suggest that their conceptualizations of American citizenship informed what the Black men secondary social studies teachers described as the purposes of social studies education. Finally, while the Black men social studies teachers were suspicious of traditional democratic processes to achieve social justice, they viewed teaching as a civic duty and a form of activism amid being forced to operate with and within the confines of language of state-required standards to teach for social justice. Implications, limitations, and directions for further research are provided.