Memorializing whiteness in state standards and local history: A critical sociohistorical consciousness analysis of The Coup of 1898 and Southern racial violence

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the historical and modern treatment of the Wilmington Coup of 1898, a series of acts of Southern racialised violence that occurred in a coastal city in the Southern United States in fall of 1898. Using a critical sociohistorical consciousness framework, we analyse state standards and historical documents to identify the underpinnings of racism in the dominant narratives of the event, local commemoration of conspirators, and resulting economic inequalities. We then discuss how whiteness has influenced standards writing and the erection of community memorials related to 1898. Implications for curriculum standards, teacher education, and K-12 classrooms are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Institutionalised racism
• curriculum standards
• anti-racist education

Disclosure statementeta

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Refers to the governing body of some cities and towns.

2. Refers to the founders of the United States and framers of the Constitution including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

3. Four college students in Greensboro, North Carolina who participated in lunch counter sit-ins in 1960 to oppose segregation.

4. Refers to an era of segregation laws in the United States (late 1800s, early 1900s).

5. 1979 Greensboro, North Carolina incident during which members of the the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party killed members of the Communist Workers Party.