Material Detail

Higher Education was built to serve wealthy white men (Thelin, et al. 2021). It was not originally intended to educate the masses nor to create a level playing field with upward social mobility for everyone. Structural racism in the form of Anti-literacy laws like the Alabama Slave Code of 1833 denied Black Americans access to reading and writing (Literacy as Freedom, n.d.). Despite this, enslaved Africans taught themselves to read and write in the dark of night, all the while knowing if they were caught by their white enslavers there would be violent repercussions including death and dismemberment (Cornelius, 1983).

This unfortunate truth is something we do not often discuss in the halls of higher education. Instead, we imagine that we have simply moved on from or are above issues surrounding racial and gender biases and that we are the good guys so to speak. While these efforts may be well intentioned, we are in desperate need of some truth telling. The goal of this Open Educational Resource (OER) is to briefly introduce the reader to the role structural racism plays in each of the academic disciplines discussed throughout it, with the caveat that there is much more to tell. The goal of this book is not to tell the whole story, merely to invite further investigation, as a primer is intended to do. It is also not meant to serve as an introduction to each discipline. There have been a multitude of books dedicated to that purpose and we imagine as subject area experts that would be the role of the reader. We will briefly define each discipline and move into a sampling of the impact structural racism has had on that specific area. We hope the reader will take it upon themselves in a true OER philosophical approach to build on, remix and reuse this content to serve their educational needs (Butcher, 2011).

This is by no means meant to be all encompassing as we cannot claim that authority, nor is there space here to do so. While much of this book is historical, it also looks at present day effects and sadly, incidents of individual and structural racism that are still happening today. In some cases we also highlight great thinkers of color, LGBTQIA+, or women who were overlooked, or ways in which individual academic fields are confronting this historical legacy in hopes of changing it. Unfortunately, for now it seems that structural racism in academia will continue to occur long after this book is published. However, we hope that with this potentially new knowledge, a push for policy changes, and a recognition of the value of different perspectives and ways of thinking a truly inclusive higher educational system in the United States can soon be realized. As this is an Open Educational Resource (OER) it is available free of charge and the reader is welcome to reuse, retain, revise, remix and redistribute as they see fit. We hope this primer serves as an opportunity to take a deeper dive into various academic disciplines and explore how higher education excluded some groups and individuals who sought an opportunity to be included.

This will delete the comment from the database. This operation is not reversible. Are you sure you want to do it?

Thank you for reporting a broken "Go to Material" link in MERLOT to help us maintain a collection of valuable learning materials.

If you feel this material is inappropriate for the MERLOT Collection, please click SEND REPORT, and the MERLOT Team will investigate. Thank you!

You are being taken to the material on another site. This will open a new window.

Do not show me this again