Excerpt
"In Beyond Heroes and Holidays we attempt to expose race and racism as they operate in schools by including lessons that help students, parents, and school staff pay attention to race. For example [The Cherokee/Seminole Removal Play' introduces students to one of the strong alliances formed between Africans and Native Americans in the early 1800s. The lesson "Exclusion- Chinese in 19th Century America" looks at the period of the Gold Rush through the eyes of the often-ignored Chinese immigrants who, contrary to the westward movement of European immigrants, began their journey from the west coast of the United States and moved eastwardàThrough "The Institutionalization of Racism" students see the concerted system effort required to institutionalize racism in the United States, which included teaching European immigrants to be whiteà This lesson also makes clear that racism is not "natural" because it requires the force of multiple institutions to establish and maintain it. The analysis of racism conveys hope; if something was constructed, as opposed to being natural, it can be changed." ---Excerpt from the Introduction