Teaching About Frederick Douglass—A Resource Guide for Teachers of Cultural Diversity

Sanelli and Rodriguez, who both teach history at the Frederick Douglass Institute at Kutztown U. of Pennsylvania, compile 11 essays on various ways to teach Frederick Douglass in elementary, middle, and secondary school. They aim to stimulate conversation between liberal arts and education professionals about teaching cultural diversity and inform public school teachers about the life and times of Douglass. Scholars of literature, education, history, and other disciplines from the US provide scholarship and lesson ideas that illustrate how to use his writings in the classroom and address how David B. Walker, Ida B. Wells, and Malcolm X contributed to the understanding of the black experience. They discuss the more inclusive environment created by online research, using the Douglass papers as a case study; literacy, group identity formation, and social equity; social and cultural barriers to the participation of students of color in computer science; the importance of religion and spirituality in Douglass's time; his ideas about immigration; and connections between his life and modern education and social justice, including abolitionism, the women's rights movement, adolescent development, and linguistic difference. Lesson plans appear at the end of each section. There is no index. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Maria Sanelli and Louis Rodriquez are members of the history department of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.