Educational materials don鈥檛 reflect the diversity of the nation鈥檚 schoolchildren, a new report finds鈥攁nd many works that do feature characters of color reinforce stereotypes.
The , published by New America, a left-of-center think tank, analyzed more than 160 studies and published works on representation in children鈥檚 books, textbooks, and other media dating from the mid-20th century through the present. The report draws on quantitative and qualitative studies, dissertations, institutional reports, and books.
鈥淥ver time, what the research shows is that we鈥檝e made progress as far as having more gender-balanced representation, though ... that gender representation tends to be from a binary perspective,鈥� said Amanda LaTasha Armstrong, a research fellow in New America鈥檚 Education Policy Program, and the author of the report. 鈥淲e鈥檙e also having more representation from communities of different racial and ethnic groups, but there鈥檚 still a very clear disparity.鈥�
This review comes at a time when there鈥檚 increased national attention on what children are reading in school. Over the last year and a half, conversations about race and gender in assigned readings, library books, and textbooks have loomed large in classrooms and school board meetings across the country.
After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the ensuing protests for racial justice prompted some teachers and school systems to rethink the make-up of their classroom libraries and syllabi, including by adding more books by and about Black Americans and people of color. Other schools had already taken on this work of diversifying reading lists in years past.
But in recent months, parents and school board members in some communities have mobilized in attempts to ban books that address race and gender, claiming that these books are divisive or sexually explicit. Titles such as The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel have all faced recent challenges.
A slew of state laws restricting how teachers can discuss racism and sexism in the classroom have also affected schoolbooks. In Tennessee, for instance, the legislature passed a law that prohibits teachers from saying that any individual is inherently racist due to their race, or that individuals are responsible for actions taken by members of their race in the past. In one district there, parents on the grounds that it violated the state鈥檚 law by teaching that 鈥溾�� and 鈥淎merica is unjust.鈥�
But Armstrong said that featuring books that represent a diversity of experiences and backgrounds is about supporting students, and that it鈥檚 crucial for creating strong learning environments. The report notes research that has shown that books and stories that represent students鈥� identities and experiences can in their .
鈥淚t鈥檚 really about having a fair representation, or authentic representation, of American society, American people,鈥� she said.
White, male characters still dominate children鈥檚 media
Over the past decades, children鈥檚 media has changed, Armstrong said: More races and ethnicities are represented in children鈥檚 books now, and male/female gender representation has moved closer to equal.
Even so, the review found that white characters still dominate children鈥檚 media. This holds true within picture books and children鈥檚 literature, but also within many school textbooks. Characters of color are underrepresented compared to the demographics of U.S. youth (a little more than half of all schoolchildren in the country are children of color).
Female characters are also underrepresented, though there has been an uptick over time. Still, girls of color may be left out: One cited 2020 study of books that won the Newbery Medal, an award for children鈥檚 literature, found that only 20 percent of Black characters and 25 percent of Asian American characters were female.
There is less research on transgender representation in books, though the report cites one study on books with LGBTQ themes that found 14 percent of primary characters and 21 percent of secondary characters were transgender.
It鈥檚 hard to know how these disparities translate to U.S. classrooms鈥攁re the racial and gender breakdowns in children鈥檚 media as a whole reflected in curricula and classroom libraries?
A separate study suggests that classroom libraries, at least, have become more diverse over the past year.
A in Management Science from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University looked at requests for classroom books on the crowdfunding site DonorsChoose.org in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd鈥檚 death. The study found a sharp uptick in requests for books by and about Black Americans, but also in requests for books about Latinos, Asians, Muslims, and Jews.
More than 90 percent of these projects were fully funded, translating to $3.4 million spent on books that reached more than a half-million students.
Some books present multifaceted portrayals of characters of color; others, stereotypes
When people of color and women are present in children鈥檚 media, how they鈥檙e portrayed varies widely, the New America report finds.
History textbooks don鈥檛 often cover Black Americans鈥� resistance to race-based oppression, outside of the context of the Civil Rights movement. Textbooks also portray attacks on Black people 鈥渁s if they are isolated events.鈥� In descriptions of the colonial period, Native Americans are often shown as racially inferior to white colonists. Other racial groups are mostly missing from U.S. history textbooks鈥攐ne study found that Latinos are generally only referenced in relation to immigration and labor movements, for example.
Children鈥檚 books show a different picture. Surveys looking at these books have found many examples of multifaceted, positive, and affirming depictions of people of color: books about family and community life, books that accurately portray lesser-known historical events, books that feature characters with a variety of experiences and perspectives.
Some of these trends are the result of relatively recent changes; for example, a 2018 study found that fewer books depict Asian Americans as 鈥渇oreigners鈥� than in years past. Other studies found that books about characters who shared the same racial or ethnic identity as the author鈥攐ften called 鈥渙wn voices鈥� stories鈥攑resented more positive portrayals.
But books with stereotypes still abound. In stories about Native Americans, Native peoples are often described as aggressive, and traditions from different tribal groups are often mixed together. Some books about Asian Americans uphold the 鈥渕odel minority鈥� stereotype. Stories about Native Hawaiians often exoticize their culture.
Portrayals are also often one-dimensional. A 2018 study from researchers at Bates College in Maine found that races and ethnicities were slotted into different themes in children鈥檚 books. For example, most books about experiences of oppression featured Black characters. And while a lot of books about culture and heritage featured Latino characters, there weren鈥檛 as many biographies about Latino figures.
Diversity within racial and ethnic groups also isn鈥檛 always explored. For example, Armstrong said, most Asian Americans in children鈥檚 books are East Asian, without much representation of South or Southeast Asians. That portrayal can frame readers鈥� perception of who counts as 鈥淎sian American,鈥� and who doesn鈥檛, Armstrong said.
鈥淲e still need to do a lot of work in terms of having more diverse representation, and in seeing how different communities are represented in the American story,鈥� she said.
