Document Type
Article
Abstract
Oral historians have declared the methodology a social justice project. This essay advances that discussion, positing that oral history methodology may represent a more specific racial justice project when coupled with critical race theory. An examination of the history of African American education scholarship, we argue, supports this contention. Two central questions guide this essay: (1) What does scholarship on the history of African American education demonstrate about the compatibility between oral history methodology and critical race theory? and (2) How does this methodological-theoretical pairing advance a racial justice project? We aim to show how critical race theory and oral history methodology complement one another as research tools that can strengthen the history of education’s capacity to inform current educational issues. Our essay draws on the work of historians of African American education to exemplify possibilities for any historian of education who examines systematically underserved communities of Colour. Ultimately, we argue that critical race theory and oral history methodology are compatible because they share several propositions apt for helping researchers subvert the silencing, marginalisation, and objectification of systemically underserved communities of Colour, thereby furthering a racial justice project. This essay, therefore, contributes primarily to interdisciplinary education and historical research methods literature.
Recommended Citation
ArCasia D. James-Gallaway & Francena F.L. Turner (2022): Towards a racial justice project: oral history methodology, critical race theory, and African American education, Paedagogica Historica, DOI: 10.1080/00309230.2022.2105152