Since our nation’s founding, issues of race have profoundly divided us. But even as scholars produce fuller examinations of this nation’s racial histories and explore their implications for democracy’s future, legislators have passed dozens of laws that restrict the way Americans learn that history in schools and, increasingly, in college. Challenging these developments, the leaders of 155 scholarly organizations remind us that “a free and open society depends on the unrestricted pursuit and dissemination of knowledge.” This panel examines the nation’s racial learning landscape and considers actions that educators can take to help all students fully explore our nation’s past and, going forward, contribute to societal choices about racial healing and change.

Hosted and produced by Civic Learning for an Engaged Democracy and sponsored by the Endeavor Foundation