Provenzo Chapter 10
Main Points
1.
2.
Our nation has
imperfectly
championed ideas of
freedom, democracy,
equality.
We are a nation that
was founded on the
conquest of native or
indigenous people—
and slavery has played
a critical role in our
historical experience.
3.
4.
We have assigned privilege and
power to groups based on their
origins, economic, power, and
geography: whiteness and privilege
have dominated our culture.
As teachers and border crossers it
is essential that we understand the
experience of dominated cultures;
not to do so is a basic error that
diminishes us not only in our work
but also as a culture and society.
•
5.
Privilege and oppression are not
limited to those addressed in this
discussion.
Dominated cultures:
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People conquered as part of 
European settlement of
North America
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People brought here as
slaves
Colonized as part of the U.S. 
global expansion
Perceived as inferior by the
dominant culture
Not provided equal rights
Physically segregated
Taught by members of the
dominant group
Language, traditions, and values
are trivialized, considered inferior
Limited access to social and
economic opportunities
Deculturalization: when the
dominant culture strips away the
culture of the dominated group
Methods used in educational settings

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Segregation and isolation
 Forced change of
language
 Curriculum reflects
culture of dominant
group
Textbooks reflect culture
of dominant group
Dominated groups not
allowed to express their
culture and religion
 Teachers from the
dominant group
 Colonized people are
directed, they do not direct
themselves
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2 million people
About one percent of the U.S.
population
7% in BIA schools
5% in private schools
88% in public schools
“To describe Native Americans with
a single descriptive term is like
describing Italians, Greeks,
Norwegians, and Russians as
Europeans.”
Speak at least 200 different
languages.
Primary goals: “civilize” the
savages and convert them to
Christianity.
Native
Americans
Education
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1879: first federally
sponsored school, the
Carlisle Indian School
Captain Richard Pratt: “All
the Indian there is in the
race should be dead. Kill
the Indian in him, and save
the man.”
In 1928, federal report:
Native American children be
educated in their own
communities not boarding
schools.”
Self-determination: late
1970’s and early 1980’s.
Funding decreased under
the Reagan administration.
Puerto Rican Americans
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When taken over by the U.S.,
Puerto Rico was well on its way
toward independence.
Puerto Rican independence was
brought to a standstill with the
invasion of the country in 1898.
The Puerto Rican population,
despite its Spanish, African, and
Native American roots, was forced
to assume U.S. citizenship.
Hawaii and the Philippines are other
examples of colonial expansion in
the late 19th century.
African Americans
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When importation of slaves
outlawed in 1820s, over 10
million Africans had been
brought to North America.
In a slave society, Africans
viewed as tools for benefit
of owners.
Essentially, compulsory
ignorance was the policy
established for African
children under slavery.
Opposing Models of
African American Education:
Booker T. Washington
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Washington supported policy of
accommodation.
Rejected idea of social equality
between African Americans and
whites.
African Americans “as separate as
the fingers” from the white
population
But, like the fingers on a hand,
inevitably linked.
W.E.B. DuBois
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DuBois argued for the training of
the “talented tenth” of the African
American population
Serve in positions of leadership in
education, the ministry, politics, and
business.
According to DuBois, Washington’s
‘compromise’ threatened the
political power of African Americans,
their civil rights, and the possibility
of higher education and its benefits.
The Movement for Civil Rights
Black Codes
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Laws restricting the rights of newly
freed African Americans after the Civil
War.
Illegal to marry across racial lines,
Voting dependent on owning property,
Eliminated Blacks from serving on
juries, etc.
1954 Brown V. Board of Education of
Topeka:
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Supreme Court decision: Separate
facilities were inherently unequal.
“Feeling of inferiority. . .unlikely ever to
be undone.”
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1955: Brown II
Students to be admitted on a
nondiscriminatory basis “with all deliberate
speed.”
Resistance throughout the South
Little Rock: first real test of the
desegregation laws.
1957, Arkansas Governor sent National
Guard troops to Little Rock to prevent
African American students from entering.
President Eisenhower sent troops to Little
Rock to enforce Brown Decision.
Process of social change had begun.
Civil
Rights
Compensatory Education
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Effort to achieve greater educational
opportunity
1965 ESEA: one billion dollars in Title I
funds
Assigned to school districts to help
disadvantaged children
For children whose families live below the
government’s poverty level.
Established in 1965: compensatory
education programs (e.g., infant education,
early childhood education, basic skills,
counseling, and dropout prevention
programs) in nation’s schools.
Best known: Head Start--disadvantaged
children preschool readiness program
Dominated Cultures and Privilege
Teachers:
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Usually white, middle class
More suburban than urban
Cultural references: Eurocentric
Moderately conservative
The Mercator projection:

Parallels of latitude, which are equal distances apart on
a globe, are drawn with increasing separation.

Greenland and Antarctica: enormously exaggerated,
although their shape is preserved.

Relative size of the world’s countries are incorrectly
represented.
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Cultural bias is operating when the world is portrayed
using a Mercator projection.
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Maps are useful tools.
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We need to know the extent to which they
unconsciously influence our view of the world by
establishing a normative practice.
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This is also the case with issues such as privilege, and
especially what has been described as white privilege.
Main Points
1.
2.
Our nation has
imperfectly
championed the ideas
of freedom, democracy,
and equality.
We are a nation that
was founded on the
conquest of native or
indigenous people—
and slavery has played
a critical role in our
historical experience.
3.
4.
We have assigned privilege and
power to groups based on their
origins, economic, power, and
geography. Whiteness and privilege
have dominated our culture.
As teachers and border crossers it
is essential that we understand the
experience of dominated cultures.
Not to do so is a basic error that
diminishes us not only in our work
but also as a culture and society.
•
5.
Privilege and oppression are not
limited to those addressed in this
discussion.