Black civitas: An examination of carter woodson's contributions to teaching about race, citizenship, and the black soldier1

In this article the authors interrogate the historical meaning of the African American soldier in order to widen the discussion of race and citizenship in the field of social studies education. The article has two overarching purposes. First, the authors attend to the recent call in the field of social studies for a more rigorous analysis of issues of race and racism. The authors focus attention on the history of the Black soldier in order to document the nuanced and paradoxical ways in which race and citizenship have intersected in the lives and military service of these men. Second, the authors situate the work of Carter G. Woodson as foundational to discussions about race and citizenship. They give specific attention to Woodson's textbook writings in order to highlight how he employed the genre of curriculum writing to challenge the historical narratives found in K-12 texts and in the academic literature about the Black soldier.