Teaching White Supremacy

This book is the most direct companion to Yacovone's work, as it specifically critiques how American history textbooks misrepresent the past. It exposes the systemic omissions and distortions used to maintain a specific national narrative, much like Yacovone's analysis of educational materials.

Kendi provides a comprehensive 'definitive history of racist ideas in America,' tracing how intellectual justifications for white supremacy were constructed over centuries. Readers of Yacovone will appreciate the deep dive into how academic and political thought has been used to reinforce racial hierarchies.

Like Yacovone, this work seeks to reframe the American narrative by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the center of the story. It challenges traditional historical perspectives that have been sanitized in the classroom for generations.

Smith travels to various monuments and landmarks to explore how the history of slavery is remembered—or misremembered—in the public consciousness. It echoes Yacovone's concerns about how historical memory is shaped and the emotional weight of those pedagogical choices.

Anderson examines the history of systemic pushback against African American progress, from the Civil War to the present. This book aligns with Yacovone's exploration of how institutional structures, including the legal and educational systems, have actively maintained white supremacy.

While Yacovone focuses on education, Rothstein focuses on housing, demonstrating how the government intentionally created a segregated America. Both books use meticulous historical research to prove that racial inequality was a deliberate, state-sponsored project rather than an accident.

Wilkerson explores the unseen hierarchy that shapes American life, comparing it to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany. This philosophical and historical analysis complements Yacovone’s study of how education serves to cement these social hierarchies.

Saini investigates the persistent and disturbing history of 'race science' in academia. Readers interested in Yacovone's focus on how intellectuals and educators justified white supremacy will find this exploration of scientific racism equally illuminating and chilling.

This book provides an essential counter-narrative to the standard US history curriculum, focusing on the perspective of Indigenous peoples. It challenges the same 'manifest destiny' and white-centric education models that Yacovone critiques in his work.

McGhee analyzes how racism in policy and education ultimately harms the entire public, not just people of color. Her work provides a modern economic and social context to the historical foundations of white supremacy that Yacovone details.