Criteria for the Evaluation of US History
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1977 Criteria for the evaluation of U.S. history textbooks for Black students : a usable model for other minorities. Mack Bernard Morant University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Morant, Mack Bernard, "Criteria for the evaluation of U.S. history textbooks for Black students : a usable model for other minorities." (1977). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 3176. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/3176 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUATION OF U.S. HISTORY TEXTBOOKS FOR BLACK STUDENTS: A USABLE MODEL FOR OTHER MINORITIES A Dissertation Presented by Mack Bernard Morant Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial degree of fulfillment of the requirements for the DOCTOR OF EDUCATION February 1977 Major Subject: Education 0 & / (c) Mack Bernard Morant 1977 All Rights Reserved CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUATION OF U.S. HISTORY TEXTBOOKS FOR BLACK STUDENTS: A USABLE MODEL FOR OTHER MINORITIES BY Mack Bernard Morant Approved as to style and content by: Dr. Ellis Olim, Chairperson of the Committee Dr. 0. C. Bobby Daniels, Member / / Dr. Grace Craig, Acting t/Dean February 1977 i i i TRULY DEDICATED TO My mama, Mrs. Jannie Morant My daddy, Mr. Mack Morant My brothers, Percy and Joseph Morant My sisters, Virginia Lee, Gloria, and Sharron Morant And, my friends: Forrest Daniels, Cassandra Daniels, Eugene Johnson, Mrs. Lula McWilliams, Mr. James S. Johnson, Nancy Stayer, Linda McBee, William Harvey, James Swindell, Herman Lewis, Chris Robinson, Michael Ivy and Alfonso Montgomery Who gave me support and inspriation until this dissertation was completed. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To complete a dissertation requires the aid and advice of many, but it would be impossible to include them all. 1 wish to acknowledge the following persons: Dr. Ellis 01 im, chairperson of my dissertation committee, who gave much advice to me as a student, friend, and human being; Dr. 0. C. Bobby Daniels, a member of my dissertation committee, a real friend and brother, who gave me inspiration and was responsible for my developing this dissertation; Dr. Horace Clarence Boyer, a member of my dissertation committee, who provided me with advice in many ways and respected me as a friend and a student. and I wish to extend further my gratitude to Dr. Gary Simpkins Mrs. Judith E. Peterson Davis for their advice and aid; Ms. Maveret Singleton and Ms. Marie Lebida for their proof-reading and to Ms. Helene Cannity for the tedious hours she spent typing this dissertation. v Criteria for the Evaluation of U.S. History Textbooks for Black Students: A Usable Model for Other Minorities (February 1977) Mack Bernard Morant, B.A., Voorhees College M.Ed., University of Massachusetts C.A.G.S., University of Massachusetts Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Dr. Ellis 01 im Practical classroom evaluation of U.S. history and social studies textbooks is needed to inform teachers and students of their racist and sexist scholarship. Further, it is imperative to demonstrate to publishing companies, historians, school principals, other educators, and laymen the importance of avoiding U.S. history and social studies materials of this nature. The purpose of this study was to develop practical evaluative criteria for both students and teachers who are in the areas of U.S. history and social studies and to provide a usable model for Black people, other minorities, and women who are not textbooks. qiven a balance account in U.S. history and social studies The Manual for Evaluative Procedures for Traditional U.S. History Textbooks developed by this researcher contains five major evaluative information about procedures: (1) the Format Data Sheet which requests the Comparative the textbook title, author, date of copyright, etc.; (2) criterion-reference Analyses Chart that includes a randomly selected personalities who have made group of nineteen eminent Black and White VI major or substantially similar contributions in U.S. history beginning with the Pre-Columbian Period and ending in the Twentieth Century. These Black and White personalities were examined for their inclusion or their exclusion in the selected U.S. history textbooks; (3) a compu- tation of the total words devoted to the Black and White personalities listed on the Comparative Analyses Chart; (4) critical analyses of randomly selected illustrations from social studies, traditional and non- tradi ti onal U.S. history textbooks that depict stereotypes of Black people and illustrations which represent positwe Black images that have been excluded. This procedure further evaluates several illustra- tions of White images that have been excluded from U.S. history and social studies because of their negative connotations; (5) involves the observation of racial (Black) stereotypes that are generally found in U.S. history and social studies which are sociopsychological in nature and are facilitated by ten queries. The basic assumption underlying the hypotheses of this study was that a bias in favor of including White historical figures and a bias against including Black historical figures would be manifested in U.S. history textbooks chosen for this study. The variables selected were Race, Race by Sex, and Inclusion-Exclusion in U.S. history textbooks. A school system in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, was selected for parti ci Dati on in this study. Twenty-one social studies and United States history textbooks currently being used at the elementary, junior and senior levels of this system were examined for inclusion of illustra- tions and text. All data for statistical analyses came from the VI 1 1 seventeen U.S. history textbooks (one elementary, six junior high, and ten senior high). These U.S. history textbooks were examined for the inclusion and total words devoted to the 19 Black and White personalities listed on the Comparative Analyses Chart. The statistical analysis of this tudy was a one-tailed Chi-Square test. Results of the hypotheses testing indicated: (a) there is a highly significant association (£ > .0005) between race and the inclusion of Black and White personalities; (b) there is a highly significant association (d .0005) between race and the inclusion or exclusion of Black and White males; (c) a significant association (ja < .01) exists between race and the inclusion of White and Black females; (d) a significant association in (ja .01) exists between race and sex during the same periods U.S. history; (e) there was no significant association found between sex and the inclusion of Black males and females; (f) no significant association was found between sex and the inclusion of White males and .0005) exists between race females; (g) a significant association (£ ^ past (1949-1963) and the inclusion of Black and White personalities in .0005) association ( > U.S. history textbooks examined; (h) a significant £ White personalities exists between race and the inclusion of Black and textbooks; and (1) a highly in contemporary (1964-1970’ s) U.S. history number .0005) exists between race and the significant association ( £ > personalities in the seventeen U.S. of words devoted to Clack and White history textbooks examined. testinq the nine hypotheses The procedural processes involved in the total of serendipity with regard to of this study produced an element Black and White personalities: number of illustrations devoted to the VI 1 90% of the White personal i ties received at least one or more illustrations whereas 90% of the Black personalities listed on the Comparative Analyses Chart received no illustrations. Conclusions drawn from the findings of this study have indicated that U.S. history and social studies materials are still presenting inept and racist scholarship to American educational institutions and that there is a strong need for more positive research of this nature. This researcher recommends the following practical measures: (a) the Manual for Evaluative Procedures for Tradi ional U.S. History Textbooks used in this study is recommended for use as a model for Black people, other minorities and women, whose historical past has been distorted. This Instrument can be utilized as a model and beginning step in ferretting out racist, sexist, and inept scholarship in U.S. history textbooks; (b) teachers in the area of social studies or U.S. history should take the responsibility to evaluate and choose materials that are suitable for all ethnic groups; (c) a national committee should be drawn up and should encompass representation from all minority groups who are suffering from imbalanced and distorted depiction in U.S. history textbooks. This national committee could then begin to develop materials which would be feasible and representa- tive of all minority groups and women in America; and (d) efforts U.S. history should be made to include minority history as a part of the rather than as curricula required by states and the national government or may not take. To illustrate a supplementary course which students may social studies courses are offered a multitude