A People’s History of Structural Racism in Academia: From A(dministration of Justice) to Z(oology) is an open educational resource (OER) developed in a virtual textbook format by Susan Rahman, Prateek Sunder, and Dahmitra Jackson. The text is written in a format that acknowledges and highlights structural racism in higher education.
Type of Material:
Open (Access) Textbook
Recommended Uses:
This textbook provides a solid overview of structural racism in academia with links to further resources, references, and information for further research on the topic.
Technical Requirements:
Word or PDF document viewer
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Here are some learning objectives for this resource:
Explain the historical origins of higher education in the United States.
Describe the impact of structural racism on access to education, including examples such as anti-literacy laws and their consequences for Black Americans.
Analyze how systems of privilege and oppression have shaped academic disciplines and continue to influence scholarship, curricula, and representation today.
Evaluate current efforts to address and dismantle structural racism in higher education, including initiatives that promote inclusion, policy change, and epistemic diversity.
Demonstrate critical thinking by connecting historical patterns of exclusion to ongoing issues of inequality in contemporary higher education.
Target Student Population:
College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
A basic understanding of academic expectations and practices might help the reader better incorporate the information into their existing knowledge-base.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The book is clear in purpose and argument, directly stating that higher education in the U.S. was built to serve wealthy white men and continues to be influenced by structural racism. Structural racism in higher education is well demonstrated through historical examples categorized by academic discipline.
The book reflects sociological and educational foundations, focusing on structural inequality, institutional history, and the sociology of knowledge. The issue of structural racism in academia is current and socially relevant. It was an engaging way to introduce structural racism. The discussions are informed by historical and current scholarship.
Concerns:
None.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This book is designed for an upper-level undergraduate/graduate course. It reads like an academic journal article. As such, there is a consistency in the presentation of structured racism across the disciplines. It invites the reader to continue exploring disciplines beyond their own. In a seminar, students could revise/add to this resource for their discipline.
Concerns:
None.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
It is clearly written and easy to read, not written to intentionally sound obtuse or use overt academic language. This is a black and white PDF document. There are no graphics or multimedia used in the document.
Concerns:
The text appears to only open as a word document or PDF. This makes the links inactive. You can cut/paste them into a browser, but it would easier to access if the textbook was published in PressBooks or a similar free online platform.
Adding formatting to the text and including historical images for interest would likely widen the audience and usability.
It would be nice not to have to scroll through the document to locate a specific academic discipline. Because it is an OER, it may be recommended that they consider republishing it using Merlot Content Builder.
Creative Commons:
Search by ISBN?
It looks like you have entered an ISBN number. Would you like to search using what you have
entered as an ISBN number?
Searching for Members?
You entered an email address. Would you like to search for members? Click Yes to continue. If no, materials will be displayed first. You can refine your search with the options on the left of the results page.
Searching for Members?
You entered an email address. Would you like to search for members? Click Yes to continue. If no, materials will be displayed first. You can refine your search with the options on the left of the results page.
