ABSTRACT
I spent the summer of 2006 dissecting a fifth-grade history text for cultural representation and found it to be an eye-opening experience. The principal of the small rural school where I had been teaching fourth grade for the past three years requested that I take a fifth-grade teaching position in the fall, requiring me to become familiar with a somewhat new curriculum. I found that the underrepresentation of women, blacks, Native Americans, and other major cultural contributors to American history stood as substantial proof that outside resources would be necessary truly to educate my students. However, textbooks are just one example of the underrepresentation of diverse cultures in American society. As anyone who turns on the television or frequents the movies knows, diverse cultures are absent, underrepresented, and/or misrepresented in media outlets as well. Creating a more accurate and complete historical picture for history’s sake is vitally important, as is the inclusion of black literature in the English language arts curricula in order to impact identity development positively.
