“A Different Pair of Glasses”: Impacts of a School-Based Antiracist Program on Student and Teacher Critical Race Consciousness

Antiracist education is a highly politicized and contested issue in the United States. This qualitative inquiry with high school students (n = 15, 10 White, 3 Black, 2 Asian) and teachers (n = 7, all White) explored the value of considering students’ and teachers’ engagement in a school-based antiracist program from a critical race consciousness framework (i.e., beliefs, feelings, and actions that challenge racism). Semi-structured, individual interviews revealed how an antiracist program, which involved reading and discussing the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, engaged students and teachers in racism analysis, racial reflexivity, and antiracist action. Specifically, participants provided rich descriptions of how the Stamped program encouraged them to gain new perspectives, understand and recognize racism, link historical and modern racism, feel responsible and committed to racial justice, and take internal and interpersonal antiracist action. Some developmental trends emerged in which students were more likely to gain new worldviews and social cognitive mindsets whereas teachers were more likely to be racially reflexive and simultaneously discuss analysis, reflexivity, and action. Implications for antiracist programs as well as educational and developmental theory are discussed.