UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Pressure to limit teaching of certain topics or texts is an issue that teachers always have and will continue to face, and Assistant Professor Jason Griffith in Penn State’s College of Education wants to help potential teachers be prepared to deal with the question of teaching banned books and other controversial materials once they enter their profession.
Griffith, whose specialty in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction is children’s and adolescent literature studies, introduced his language and literacy education class (LLED 402) to a situation surrounding “The 1619 Project: Born on the Water.”
The 1619 Project, by Nikkole Hannah-Jones, is an original New York Times Magazine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning piece of journalism on the history of enslaved people in the United States. “Born on the Water” is a children’s picture book, adapted by Hannah-Jones along with children’s author Renée Watson and illustrator Nikkolas Smith. “Born on the Water,” along with another book created from The 1619 Project, titled “A New Origin Story,” were released on Nov. 16.
Teaching of The 1619 Project was banned in mid-September by a York County school district in south-central Pennsylvania, but the ban of that book and several others was overturned a few weeks later by the district’s school board after a series of student protests that lasted a week or more, reported The New York Times.
Griffith, a member of the Penguin Random House High School Teacher Advisory Board, was joined by Tiffany Nyachae, assistant professor of education (curriculum and instruction), as part of an educators’ pilot group for “The 1619 Project: Born on the Water.” The book, according to Griffith, is a new origin story for Black American students who are not represented in dominant white American origin stories, such as the Mayflower/pilgrims, Jamestown and other white, European, non-Indigenous settlements, according to Griffith.
Black students, said Griffith, need texts such as “The 1619 Project: Born on the Water” — which details the journey of Africans who were enslaved in Virginia — as “mirrors,” and white students need them as “windows.” Penguin Random House and Pulitzer Center are co-publishing the two books (“Born on the Water” and “A New Origin Story”) as adaptations of Nikkole Hannah-Jones’ research and journalism in the original 1619 Project in the New York Times. Their idea is to “translate” the award-winning journalism into texts that can be used in classrooms, Griffith said.
Since work related to The 1619 Project often has been banned at schools while creating anger and controversy, it creates a reluctance by teachers to even touch it, according to Griffith.
“Some of the pre-work I was doing was reminding students of the windows and mirrors principle,” Griffith said, “and I got curious about what the students’ thoughts are about this material and whether they would teach it. I was interested in the journalistic project and because of our anti-racist work in the College of Education and my own personal interest in that equity work. The publishers want to see what educators do with the materials.”
Griffith said he didn’t want his students, all of whom are seeking to teach middle grades (fourth to eighth) in the future, to leave the College of Education program, encounter materials like this valuable origin story that’s connected to a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalistic project and be resistant to use it because of possible blanket bans.
Each table of four or five education students reviewed a classroom copy of the book while Griffith read the book aloud and displayed passages on the Krause Learning Center video screens.
“Historically, some children have been asked to look through the window more than they've been provided mirrors, so this (book) provides a valuable mirror,” Griffith said. “The other goal is getting some of the course concepts to gel around a real-world example, some of the things that we've talked about in terms of representation in literature. And with the collaborative lesson-planning activity, they can also apply some of the pedagogical strategies that we've been working on.”
One of Griffith’s LLED 402 students, Angelina Giordano, said teaching “The 1619 Project: Born on the Water” shows the many perspectives and stories provided by history. “This text is valuable because it shows how many origin stories exist and how some origin stories are chosen to be left out of the classroom. I believe it's important to have a variety of perspectives in the classroom because everyone has different experiences,” she said.
Giordano also said she would defend the teaching of the book by looking for support from colleagues, administrators and possibly even the authors. “I have noticed that community values typically reflect school values. I think a lot of book bans are placed because communities fear whatever makes them question the world they live in,” she said.
“It's easy for people to target a word, sentence or passage in a story, allowing them to voice their displeasure, even when there is much more meaning to the plot of the book or the lens it provides,” said Giordano. “I believe in critically thinking about a text, and censorship of (this) text promotes restricted access and allows not all identities to be seen, or their stories to be told.”
Student Emma Scattergood said she believes this topic would be more beneficial in a more diverse school district.
“The narrative of the main character not being able to trace where she comes from is such a real issue in classrooms. I think in an inner-city school this could relate to students more strongly,” she said. “It could serve as a mirror text (a text in which the student can see themselves in the story) in those districts. In a rural district, the illustrations would be more important to elaborate on because I don’t think it conveys enough information on the story it’s telling.”
Additionally, student Logan Bortz thought the book’s style (poems/short stanzas) was better suited for the lower end of the middle-level grades (fourth to eighth). She also believes the book meshes well with the College of Education’s focus on anti-racist education.
“In LLED 402, we talked about the different demographics of authors and how certain races are often underrepresented. This book gives the opportunity for different stories and perspectives to be shared aside from the ones students are often exposed to,” she said.
Griffith thought the students understood the message and saw the value in the book and had some good starts to the ideas of their lesson plans.
“My hope is that this (activity) starts these conversations and I’m pleased that maybe there will be seeds that will bear fruit as they go into future classes,” Griffith said.
Additional value around this project, Griffith said, is simply awareness. He said he was surprised to find that most of his students had not heard about “The 1619 Project” or that it’s been included in recent school district book bans.
“Eventually, they (the students) will hear about it or encounter a ban or parent resistance in their future school districts and they’ll have something to draw from. They can look at it and say, ‘Oh, I wonder what’s going on here because I read that book and it’s not what they’re saying it is,’” Griffith said.