Reality and Rationalization: Insights on Rural Teachers’ Efforts to Build Racial Literacy

Racism remains endemic and pervasive throughout the United States, its institutions, structures, and systems. And yet, efforts to build racial literacy have been widely absent in K-12 educational institutions. Research exploring the racial pedagogical decision making of teachers is essential for disrupting systemic educational inequalities brought on by white supremacy. Drawing on scholarship focused on racial literacy, critical race theory, and rural education, this study explored the racial literacy and racialized teaching of ten rural social studies teachers. Findings illustrate that teachers embodied racial literacy in two ways: rooted in reality and as rationalization. This research also reveals the tensions, affordances, challenges, and opportunities of teaching for racial literacy teaching in rural classrooms.