Abstract
Debates on the purpose of education and social studies curriculum, alongside conversations about how to effectively teach race in curriculum are all interconnected. Social studies standards have become a critical tool in informing students of history, yet these past debates have now shifted into modern disputes over the implementation of addressing power, oppression, and racism. Through an analysis of Mississippi and Massachusetts’ social studies standards from two distinct time-periods, this research seeks to uncover how anti-racist frameworks are employed during topics of race, racism, and racial oppression. Through careful coding and qualitative content analysis I used 18 total DEI terms, court cases, and other race related phrases to obtain 100 quotations from the initial sample, employing 3 patterns (latent content codes): Anti-Racist, Black-Centered Education, Attempt, and Failure. There were three key findings based off these latent content codes. The Anti-Racist, Black-Centered Education coded quotations often failed to prompt discussion on the long-term implications of racism or address how systems of racial oppression inform the present-day. Attempt coded quotations utilized an aversive racist framework that consistently provided sanitized, subdued recalls of oppression, specifically when discussing Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and white resistance. Failure quotations typically employed colorblind racism during discourse on “diversity” and “equality,” by using seemingly “positive” words to gloss over discussions of racial oppression. These findings show how standards contribute to the historical maintenance of white-centered recounts and provide guidance on the adoption of anti-racist curricula frameworks.