Critical race pedagogy 2.0: lessons from Derrick Bell

Abstract

In this article, we attempt to honor the rich legacy of Derrick Bell by detailing how exploring his specific contributions to critical race theory (CRT) provided lessons for developing and refining critical race pedagogy (CRP). We examine Bell’s racial realism thesis in connection with his pedagogical work. In doing so, we find that he was as committed to developing a ‘community-based’ law classroom as he was to articulating a strong critique of the law (Radice 1991). As part of his teaching philosophy, Bell wrote extensively about the value and importance of a student-centered humanist pedagogy (Bell 1980, 1982, 1997; Bell and Edmonds 1993; Delgado and Stefancic 2005). We draw parallels between Bell’s humanist student-centered pedagogy and the tenets of CRP as a way to expand the accessibility of this framework. Finally, as the ultimate homage to the work of Derrick Bell, we end with a futuristic mini-chronicle that takes place in a school district boardroom. The chronicle features a fictitious character who happens to be a distant relative of Bell’s. As we will discuss, we believe that the use of chronicles and storytelling hold the possibility for helping us to name extant challenges and illuminate further possibilities of CRP as a tool for battling globalized oppression at the intersection of race, class, gender and sexuality in education.

Keywords:

• critical race pedagogy
• critical pedagogy
• critical race theory
• race

Notes

1. According to the website, everydayfeminism.com, cisgender refers to a person who has a ‘biological sex that matches [their] gender identity.’ http://everydayfeminism.com/2012/09/30-examples-of-cisgender-privilege/ accessed on 6/3/13.

2. Tara Yosso and Marvin Lynn were both students of Daniel G. Solorzano. They participated in courses together and worked closely together on several scholarly projects. See Lynn, M., Yosso, T. J. Solórzano, D. G., & Parker, L. (Eds.), (2002) and Yosso, T., Parker, L., & Solórzano, D. & Lynn, M. (2004).

3. The special issue was a celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the publication of Bell’s foundational law review entitled Racial Realism, published in the Connecticut Law Review in 1991.

4. Portions of this section of the article are drawn from Lynn, Bacon, Totten, Bridges and Jennings’ 2010 article ‘Examining teachers beliefs about African American male students in a low-performing school in an African American school’ published in Teachers College Record.