Kirsten Cole provides early childhood educators with a clear and compelling vision for teaching about race and racism in the early years. Teaching for Love and Justice provides a solid rationale for why we must do this important work and amplifies the voices of early childhood educators on how this work is done. My pre-service teachers will benefit greatly from this book that is not only easily digestible but also immensely powerful.  

—Denisha Jones, PhD, JD, Executive Director, Defending the Early Years

Kirsten Cole's Teaching for Love and Justice is not a how-to manual with easy answers—and that's exactly what makes it invaluable. Engaging with young children around thorny social issues like race and racism is complex, vulnerable work, and Kirsten honors that reality by sharing the authentic voices of 27 early childhood educators who open their classrooms and share both promising practices and instructive missteps. In this important book, Kirsten deftly surfaces the deep questions, constant tensions, and boundless joys we experience when we engage our hearts and minds in this critical work. At a time when anti-racist education is under attack, the book offers what educators need most: honest portraits of the work, practical strategies they can adapt, and the inspiration to join children in building a more just and loving world. 

—Fabienne Doucet, PhD, Executive Director, Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools

Kirsten Cole, PhD is a teacher, researcher, and public school parent based in Brooklyn, NY. Her research interests include anti-racist/anti-bias education, the study of teachers' lives, and the relationships between families and teachers, and she has published multiple articles and book chapters based on her research. Cole received her doctorate in Urban Education from the City University of New York (CUNY) in 2013. She has the pleasure to teach and learn from her students and colleagues as a professor of early childhood education at CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College. Cole and her colleagues have been awarded grants from BMCC’s President’s Fund for Excellence and CUNY’s Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Initiative to support their work on BMCC’s Anti-Racist Pedagogy Project.

Foreword by Samantha R. Diaz

Acknowledgments

Introduction

CHAPTER 1

Teaching About Race and Racism with Young Children: Who, What, When, Where, and Why?

CHAPTER 2

How We Teach About Race

CHAPTER 3

How We Teach About Racism

CHAPTER 4

How We Create Anti-Racist Classrooms

CHAPTER 5

How We Talk with Families About Race and Racism

CHAPTER 6

How We Prepare Educators to Teach About Race and Racism

CHAPTER 7

How We Change the World

References

Index