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Below is a list of material in various platforms that I hope help inform your developing thoughts on the ways in which social structure affects the nature of teaching and learning. Older works discussing the explicit connection of social context to the classroom for example, can be best found in the works of Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed)and bell hooks (Teaching to Transgress). I don’t necessarily subscribe to all social interpretations present in the suggestions below, but they do provide a broad perspective of various aspects of history. To aid your journey into this ‘rabbit hole’, I include some summary words describing how the material was valuable to me, so you can anticipate on some level how it may impact your thinking. 

Launching into one piece of material will likely lead you to seek more. For example, a colleague told me that WEB DuBois might be turning in his grave at how his work was summarized in a brilliant book (mentioned below) I recently read called Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram Kendi. He then directed to more original works to better interpret DuBois’ interpretation of black intellectual progress such as W.E.B. DuBois: Biography of a race, 1816-1919 by David Levering Lewis. This means that you in turn will find yourself with more questions than answers at the end of each, but I trust you embrace that. Ultimately it is your interpretation and wrestling with our fractious histories that will evolve into how you see our ‘chance at birth’, each other, your students, and ultimately your instruction differently. 

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