Through open-ended interviews and oral history, this ethnographic project captures unique histories of cultivating critical race consciousness as a White subject in social contexts of continuing overt and covert racisms. The project studies the legacy of racist and prejudiced discourses in how White research participants embody, theorize, and perform White consciousness. I explore a spectrum of White consciousness that corresponds to shifting conceptualizations of racism (Jim Crow, Colorblind, and Critical Race Consciousness), unstable ideologies of activism and antiracism (reflecting whether or not and how subjects act against prejudice), and the changing politics of rhetorical practice in backstage settings (that is, how subjects represent and construct racialized realities in these discourse situations). The project concludes that storytelling can be strategically and effectively used in activist research and everyday conversation as a vehicle for positive social change to cultivate critical dialogue about and rearticulate lived histories of race, racialized identities, racial privileges, and racisms.

Historical empathy (HE) is refers to deep inquiry in which academic and emotional responses to historical content are shaped through source analysis of the actions, motives, perspectives, and beliefs of people in the past. There are limited studies about whether students demonstrate HE through analysis of underrepresented historical figures. Additionally, studies are limited on how students’ social identities influence demonstration of HE. Consequently, there is a gap in the literature with regard to whether source analysis of underrepresented historical figures, as well as students’ social identities, impact demonstration of HE and critical race consciousness (CRC). Elizabeth Jennings is an example of an underrepresented historical figure. She was an African American teacher who was forcibly ejected from a streetcar due to her race in 1854. Jennings sued the streetcar company and won. Although Jennings set an important precedent for African Americans to use the legal system to challenge antebellum segregation ordinances, she remains a relatively obscure historical figure. The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not an instructional unit about Elizabeth Jennings called “The Elizabeth Jennings Project” (EJP) promotes conditions conducive for student demonstration of HE and/or CRC. A case study of one middle and two high school classes was conducted at one private, non-secular school in an urban area of the Northeast. Instructional methods that best promoted HE included in-class discussion and debate. Students provided insights about their social identities during focus group sessions with regard to how the EJP fostered HE and CRC.

This study is situated at the confluence of three calls for research within mathematics education: 1) work using novel approaches for studying students’ understanding of nonlinear meanings of multiplication; 2) work using discrete mathematics to explore social issues related to equity; and 3) work at the intersection of mathematical learning and critical race consciousness—specifically, social justice mathematics initiatives that explicitly address racism and the learners’ perspectives. The design research methodology of the study with 8th grade students provides practical curricular and pedagogical steps for doing work at the intersection of mathematical learning and race and racism; offers domain-specific learning insights; and merges theory and practice in conceptualizing the multiple complexities of learning and development in situ to create new possibilities for a more just mathematics education. Findings from this study offer insights at the intersection of the evolution of students’ establishment of nonlinear meanings of multiplication and critical race consciousness development. Specifically, this study identifies two schemes that students use to establish a nonlinear meaning of multiplication (SARC Scheme and RA Scheme), illustrates students’ growing racism awareness, and highlights how these initiatives can be mutually supportive in helping to normalize conversations about race and racism.