Kerrigan Peters

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1102-017
10 November 2015
Annotated Bibliography 1:
Wright, Robert. "New Evidence That Racism Isn't 'Natural'" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media
Company, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
Reflection:
While searching for these sources for my inquiry I had a difficult time finding stuff. More
specifically I had a hard time trying to figure out what to search. Originally I searched my topic
and its entirety. Then I realized that was too broad and I had that narrow my search down.
Finally I realized that for my first source I should search for innate racism. With my next search,
I want to find more of a study type of source. In my actual inquiry essay I had a study like source
but I didnt really go in depth with it so I feel like that would be interesting to research. The main
feedback that I received was to just watch my repetitive word choices with items like this
article and similar things along those lines.
This source was written by The Atlantic which is a literary and cultural magazine. The
article was written with the American public in mind. More specifically, anyone who are
interested in the science of the brain and how it can cause racism. For example, vocabulary is
dropped like the amygdala, which is the part of brain that is associate with emotion and detects
threats, and if people dont know that vocabulary or arent interested in things along those lines,
they wouldnt necessarily find this article interesting.
Robert Wright, former senior editor at The Atlantic and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize,
states that race is a social construct. Although there have been studies that show that when a
white person is approached by and African American the amygdala becomes active, there were
also studies showing African Americans amygdala being triggered when also being approached
by another African American. This shows that no matter who you get approached by, sometimes
your brain may have a reaction, this doesnt necessarily mean that there is a racist incline about

it. As a whole, this piece is talking about how there isnt a correlation biologically telling if
racism is innate.
The correlation between peer group diversity and dampened amygdala response doesnt
mean the former causes the latter This quote is important because it is a major topic in my
inquiry. This is a source that shows that we learn our opinions on race. As previously stated, this
author argues that racism is a social construct.
Other quotes:

The increasing amygdala response to race [with age] may be driven by intrinsic factors

of the child, such as puberty, rather than exposure to cultural messages.

It's not a category that's inherently correlated with our patterns of fear or mistrust or

hatred, though, obviously, it can become one .

It's within our power to construct a society in which race isn't a meaningful construct.

Overall, this source was a pretty easy read. With that being said, I have taken psychology
And anatomy classes, so I understand the different parts of the brain and found this interesting.
As previously said, for those that dont know what those parts are or find them interesting, they
would find this to be a somewhat dry or difficult read.
Annotated Bibliography 2:
Jones, Lauriann M., and Linda A. Foley. "Educating Children to Decategorize Racial Groups."
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Mar. 2003. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Reflection:
Since this is my second bibliography it was easier for me to write because I knew what to
expect. Also, I received information on how to search for our inquiry when our class went to the
library to learn how to use their database. That was where I actually found this experimental
study. As of right now, this is my favorite source because it takes such a different approach from
how I was originally writing my inquiry. I feel like because this gives a different input it will help
make my essay stronger and more interesting. As far as feedback goes, again I was told to watch

my word choice with words like this. But was also told that I had a strong description of the
article.
The source was an experimental study called Educating Children to Decategorize Racial
Groups which was published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. This study was done
to see if teaching children to decategorize people and try to find them as more similar, which in
turn, will decrease racism and discrimination. Racism and discrimination has always been a big
issue in American society and people often wonder if there is a way that it can be stopped. The
two authors of this study wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching children to
decategorize others. The authors, Lauriann Jones and Linda Foley, from the University of North
Florida, state that elementary school curricula including these lessons could reduce biased
categorization and possibly promote the development of more nonprejudiced children. Since
this was published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, it was written for those who
actually read this journal, i.e. Psychologists, psychology students, or those who are interested in
the subject.
In this study, the authors created a PowerPoint presentation that consisted of 25 slides
teaching about decategorization. The PowerPoint was divided up into different sections; the first
11 slides taught anthropology of different skin tones, the next for taught biology and the genetic
similarities of the different races, the final eight slides taught that people came to America to
escape prejudice and talked about what make this country a great place because of its ethnically
diverse population. Afterwards, the 65 students answered the Racial Decategoration scale. This
basically was a 30 question survey asking questions dealing with beliefs, stereotypes, feelings,
and other knowledge. The answer choices ranged from 1(strongly agree) to 5(strongly disagree).
With this inventory, the lower the score indicates that there was less categorization which in
other words means there was less racial discrimination.

The results from this study showed that the experimental group, the individuals that were
given the presentation, scored lower than the control group of students who had not been taught
the lesson. This means that the authors hypothesis had been correct. This is important because it
shows that if children are taught to decategorize people then maybe racism and discrimination
will lessen and people will become more accepting.
I found that this text was a medium difficulty to read. I have previously taken a
psychology lab class where we were exposed to reading experimental study reports so I had
previous knowledge on what the different sections meet. But because I found this topic very
interesting I was able to read through it and actually found the experimental data to be intriguing.
I think that this source very volatile for my essay because it shows a way that we can change this
epidemic that is racism. It gives another view to my topic as opposed to me just stating facts
about racism and stating events that were important to the history of racism.
Other Quotes:

Categorization has been shown to be a predictor of the development of racially biased

categories.
Perhaps education in decategorization might outweigh the effect of family, friends, and

the medias emphasis on racial categories and differences.

Studies have found that by redefining categories of in-groups and out-groups,
recategorization or decategorization of out-groups could be accomplished, decreasing
conflict and stereotypes.

Annotated Bibliography 3:
"Readers: Children Learn Attitudes about Race at Home." CNN. Cable News Network, 25 May
2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
Reflection:
This source I really liked because I always enjoy reading the news and the fact that this is
source is from CNN was really cool to me. I feel like this will give me more scientific support for
my paper and will give me a lot of information that could help me fill the page requirement.

From the previous feedback I have gotten from my other annotated bibs I tried to focus a lot to
my word choice and sentence flow.
Unfortunately this article didnt have the author listed. But, what is known is that this was
written for CNN.com. CNN is an American news channel that is going 24hours a day. CNN is
one of the worlds leaders in online news and news channels. This article is summarizing a
previous study that was done for AC360. This study researched children of different race and
their biases towards their own and opposite races.
The experimenter Margaret Beale, a leading researcher in the field of child development,
took 133 children and measured how segregation affected African American children. She did
this by recreating a famous doll test from the 1940s. In the study, it was shown that white
children had a bias towards white dolls. Something surprising was that African American
children also had a bias towards white dolls. This is a major part of my paper, why is it that
children think this way? Something that was most interesting about this article was that most of it
was responses from people after they read about the experiment.
These comments lead to an even bigger debate on what actually causes the children to
think this way. Comments varied from someone believing that parents need to take an active
role to teach the differences between right and wrong. Its the parents responsibility to show that
they are no better or no less than another race. Another person said that it doesnt matter if a
parent talks to their kids about race or not because the child is going to learn these biases from
society. Finally someone simply commented under this study, I say, thank you media/TV. This
is so true because in this day and age media and social media has such a huge influence on
society so one can only assume that children learn from it too.
The source was a very easy read because it was written in a way that you could easily
understand. In some of my other sources, since they were more science based, they had more
difficult words but this one was written from the general American public so anyone would be

able to have an easy time reading this. This source will be a great addition to my paper simply
from the quote it had alone. Getting to have the opinion of the general public would give a
different and interesting point of view for my inquiry.
Other Quotes:

"I do believe that parents must take an active role [regardless of race] to inform their
children that they are no better or no worse than anyone because of race," Kejohn03
wrote. "These lessons were taught to me and when I have children I will do the same.
Once this happens, then there will be less misconceptions and negative perceptions

regarding race."
"The problem here is that if parents do not talk to their kid about race and how to
perceive people that are 'different from them', they would simply form their opinions
based on whatever [right or wrong] they gather from society. To suggest that anyone is

labeling these innocent kids to be racist is merely unfortunate,"

Others said children -- and adults -- were conditioned to think of light objects as good
and dark as bad
Annotated Bibliography 4:

Odell, Jonathan. "I Am a Recovering Racist: I Was Somehow Taught Hate as a Gift of Love."
Saloncom RSS. Salon Media Group, 30 June 2015. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.
Reflection:
For this annotated bib, I had a harder time finding a good source since I have already
used most of the ones that I have found interesting. I feel like I am doing a good job as
summarizing the articles and showing why these sources are going to help in my inquiry. With
this source I feel like it takes a completely different approach and is different than most of the

sources I have used. This will give me the POV of a recovering racist which will allow my
readers to understand what goes into a person becoming racist.
This article was written for Salon, a website that focuses on U.S. politics and current
affairs but from a liberal perspective. Jonathan Odell, was a Mississippi native during the 1950s,
the major time for segregation and discrimination. He experienced all of this firsthand and
realized that he too participated in the practice of racism. He is also the author of a novel dealing
with race in Jim Crow Mississippi and other novels that are deal with what he experienced and
learned during that time period.
This source talks about the authors experience when he was approached by a school
principal to come talk to a class in Minneapolis since their class was currently learning about the
civil rights movement. The principal had read an interview with Odell where he had talked about
being a recovering racist and wanted him to talk to the class about his experiences. The class
that he came to talk to was a group of 11 year old fifth graders. All of which were white and
came from good homes and had apparently never been around many colored people aside from
the ones that cleaned their houses or tended their lawns.
Odell went through his memories and taught the class for maybe a half an hour but what
he didnt expect were the questions that would follow. A boy raised his hand and asked, Did you
like having your own special place in the restaurant when you were growing up? This made the
speaker actually think back on how he himself reacted during the 50s and 60s when he was given
the nicer things and received more privileges than those of color. Thats when he realized that he
actually did like it. He was conditioned to have a good feeling whenever a colored person gave
up their seat on the bus because it showed him that he was better than them. Jonathan Odell soon
began to understand that he wasnt just an innocent bystander during this time, he was an active
member in segregation. This soon got him to ask himself the question Why?

Thats when he came to the realization that all of these said privileges he received were
given to him from his parents, teachers, preachers, and his society as a whole. Racism was
thrusted upon him from the ones he loved because they thought it was their way of showing him
love. Hence the name of this article I was somehow taught hate as a gift of love. His loved
ones thought they were doing the right thing when teaching him these things. Odell stated,
Those seeds of specialness sent roots down deep into my being. And those roots entwine
with love for my parents and God and the way I feel sad about abandoned dogs and how I get all
choked up when a friend says he cares for me. All these things are planted in the same field.
Here he meant that his involvement was planted in him. Odell was glad to come talk with these
children because it sparked a discussion amongst them about the different disparities in
opportunities even today affected by race. He hopes that maybe his confession of his previous
life would cause these children to see the world in a new way because the author himself knew
that even at his age now, he would certainly look at the world differently.
This article was a very easy read because it was a personal story. It almost made it more
interesting that it was telling about someones personal experience. I thoroughly enjoyed reading
this because it gave a different point of view on racism. It gave you a look behind the eyes of
someone who was involved in segregation back then. This source is going to be a great addition
for a first-hand account for my inquiry. Like I previously said, it gives a different approach than
what my inquiry was going in. As opposed to just talking about these events, I now have a look
at what it was like to actually be a person who participated with and was influenced by societys
opinions on other races during the segregation period.
Other Quotes:

That horrible, disgusting hateful thing is part of me, too, entangled with the rest. And
often it keeps me from seeing my own racism when it rears its benevolent, entitled head.

No one had to explain to us we were special. The evidence was overwhelming. We

learned it from those who only wanted the best for us. We believed them. And we didnt

want to disappoint them.

But its not the villains we must reckon with. Our role models were people we loved and
trusted, those whom we allowed into our souls without question. Its an elderly white
neighbor whom I loved dearly, telling me that her black yardman, Joe, was not to be
referred to as a Mister. My schoolteacher who acted like it was the right thing, the
appropriate thing, the moral thing for her students to have nice schools and new
textbooks and a school bus, while the black kids went to class in dilapidated buildings,
used our castaway textbooks and walked to school regardless of the weather. It was my
preacher who told us to love black people, but that God wanted the blood of the white
race to remain pure. The kind clerk who attended to me, a child, the minute I walked into

his store while black adults remained waiting in line.

What adult, much less child, doesnt want to feel special? What child is going to say,
No, I dont want your gift because it takes away from others! We hunger for the
experience of feeling special and are grateful to those who see that specialness within
us.
Annotated Bibliography 5:
Burnett, James H., III. "Racism Learned." Boston Globe. Boston Globe Media, 10 June 2012.
Web. 6 Nov. 2015.
Reflection:
Its starting to get harder and harder to find good quality sources at this point because it
almost feels like this information is getting repetitive. This source is a good addition for my
paper because it follows the view that I am taking on this piece. But like I mentioned earlier it is
definitely starting to get harder to find interesting sources for my inquiry.

The Boston Globe is an everyday American newspaper thats based in Boston,

Massachusetts. James H. Burnett III is a staff reporter for the Boston Globe and went on to be the
director of PR and Social Media for The Boston Foundation. This is a nonprofit organization
which helps the residents and the community of Boston. Burnett is in charge of building
relationships with key members of the media and has many connections in that field.
This article summarizes a not yet published study done by Mahzarin Banaji, a wellknown psychologist from Harvard University. She also is a brain researcher and racism and
physical prejudice expert. Some have said that children exposed to racism can embrace and
accept it just at the age of 3. Banaji says, Its quite shocking really, but the gist of it is that 3and 4-year-olds demonstrate the same level and type of bias as adults. This tells us that children
get it very, very quickly, and that it doesnt require a mature level of cognition to form negative
biases. It truly is shocking that children at such a young age are able to understand something as
bad as racism. Banajis quote sums up what he is researching in his study.
The study consists of having 263 white children between the ages of 3 and 14 and
showing them a number of drawn facial images which are in different skin tones. The skin tones
range from very light tan to brown. The children were then asked to identify these faces as being
happy of angry. In a specific part of the test, the kids were shown a set of faces that were an
inconclusive lighter color that could have easily been identified as being either white or black.
For this part of the experiment, children typically identified them as being angry. The children
then identified any white face as being happy, even if the face was drawn with a frown. After this
they were asked to compare these faces with Asian faces and their responses were still similar.
Any face resembling Asian like features was said to be angry. Following this, a group of
African American children were asked the same questions and it was shown that they showed no
pro-black or pro-white bias.

This study led to the question, will the physical prejudices young children learn early in
life stick with them into adulthood? Banaji also agree that environment begins to play a huge
role in their development of in/out-groups. She goes on to say that it is our jobs as parents or
individuals to act in their lives and show them the importance of this situation then theyll begin
to think its okay to think one group is better than the other.
Racism Learned was a very interesting and easy read. Im always interested in reading
these studies and experiments so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel like this will make a good
addition to my paper because it gives more scientific support for my view on my inquiry.
Other Quotes:

As children age, let us say past 10, environment begins to play a tremendous role in how
they perceive in-group and out-group people - people who look like them, and people
who do not, Banaji says. So the good news is that even a child whose parents make no
conscious effort to teach [him] not to be prejudiced can shed that prejudice if he finds
himself in a diverse enough place and consistently observes in-group and out-group

people interacting positively and as equals.

The odds of aging children losing or at the very least lessening their bias against outgroup people are only increased, of course, when responsible adults in their lives
consciously place their children in a position to see different groups interacting as

equals.
It is not the fault of the children that they grow up to see a majority of power and
influence concentrated among one race, she says. So if we dont act in their lives, as
they age, to show context to that imbalance, they may continue to believe that one group
is better or worse than the other, based on nothing more than color, features, or
expressions.
Annotated Bibliography 6:

Elias, Marilyn. "Racism Hurts Kids' Mental Health." USATODAY.com. USA Today, 5 May 2009.
Web. 08 Nov. 2015.
Reflection:
I was actually surprised that I found this article. It doesnt technically follow my inquiry
for what causes racism but it gives a different approach to it. I like how this one shows more of
what happens after racism is experienced. Since I havent received feedback I am not sure
whether or not Ive improved my approaches to these annotated bibs but Ive mainly just been
working on my word choice and looking out for repetitiveness.
USA Today is an American newspaper that is issues out daily news. It is distributed
nationwide meaning that every article is written with the American public in mind. The source
was written by Marilyn Elias, who has received many awards such as The News Media
Recognition Award presented by American Psychological Association for best coverage of
psychological research in the popular press. and the Media Achievement Award from the
Association for the Advancement of Psychology for outstanding contributions in expanding
societys understanding of mental health issues in the media. along with many others.
Elias piece talks about the effects of being mistreated or discriminated against based on
skin color. It is said that fifth graders who feel as if they had been mistreated because of their
skin color are more likely than other classmates to have symptoms of mental disorders. Studies
suggest especially depression is a common symptom. Discrimination can also increases the
likelihood that teens and even adults will develop mental health problems.
A study was run by Mark Schuster, a Harvard pediatrician and pediatrics chief at
Childrens Hospital Boston. His study was also published in American Journal of Public Health
and involved over 5000 children. This was the first study to examine any possible link between
children of different races. Schuster states, It's possible that prejudice harms children's mental
health, but it is also possible that troubled kids prompt more discriminatory remarks from peers
or that children with emotional problems perceive more bias. This means that maybe there isnt

a definite tie between discrimination and mental health deficiencies. All he is saying is that his
study shows that there is a somewhat strong relationship between the two.
This may have been a short article but I think it was very helpful when it came to finding
more information for my paper. It was a pretty easy read considering its short length but since it
was written for the general American public, anyone could be able to read this and understand it.
This is definitely different from some of my other sources that used more scientific words.
Overall I liked this source because as I said it offered something a little different for my essay by
showing how those who are harmed by racism react and how they are affected by it.
Other Quotes:

Hispanics had the worst mental health effects, the study shows; perceptions of bias
significantly increased their symptoms of all four disorders. About four out of five
Hispanic children who felt prejudice had foreign-born parents. Black parents may buffer
their children better, perhaps preparing them to expect some racism, Schuster speculates.

Prejudice was reported by 20% of blacks, 15% of Hispanics, 16% in the "other"

category and 7% of whites.

Hispanics who report racism are more than three times as likely as other children to
have symptoms of depression; blacks are more than twice as likely; and those of "other"
minority races have almost quadruple the odds. Rates are also higher for attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder.
Annotated Bibliography 7:

Valenti, Jessica. "You Can't Ignore Racism and Raise Anti-racist Children. You Have to Tackle It
Head-on." The Guardian : Race Issues. Guardian News and Media Limited, 12 Mar.
2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.

Reflection:
Since I havent received feedback I am just going to keep writing these annotated
bibliographies the way that I have been. Now that this is my last one, I feel like Ive gotten the
hang of reading each source and connecting it with my inquiry. This one I especially like
because its another first hand story which I feel will make my essay more credible if I have more
firsthand accounts.
The website, The Guardian, is a British news and media website that also has ties in the
US. In 2013, it was the most popular newspaper website in the United Kingdom bringing in 8.2
million visitors per month. The Guardian covers many topics such as media, environment, sports,
etc. It also has blogs and columns which is where this source was found. Jessica Valenti, a
feminist, political, and culture columnist. Valenti is the founder of Feministing.com and has a
new book coming out titled, Sex Object, which will be coming out in 2016.
Jessica Valenti wrote this particular column about a firsthand personal experience she had
with her daughter. Her daughter came home from her favorite day at school, library day. Valenti
enjoyed how much her daughter liked library day because she always brought back different
types of books which she felt was beneficial for her daughters development. One day her
daughter came home with a book she herself grew up with called, Travels of Babar. This book,
the author soon realized, was full of highly offensive and racist images towards black people.
In her own childhood, she hadnt realized how offensive this book was and was very
surprised when her daughter had brought it home. In her column, Valenti says, This isnt the
first time Ive encountered racism in the media to which my daughter has been exposed
(Aristocats, Im looking at you), and Im sure it wont be the last. This is important because it
shows that media is full of racism. The author understands that this wont be the last time she or
her daughter is going to experience racism from the media.

She suggests taking a head on, proactive approach when teaching your children about
racism. Simply hiding them from anything that may show racism wont help or teach them at all.
According to Valenti, the best defense against racism is to arm the children with information
about what racism is really like. More importantly, they must be taught that it is unacceptable.
I enjoyed this read because it was so personal. Since this was written from her own
account, it seemed very relatable because I know whenever I have children, I want to do
anything in my power to make them the best people they can possibly be. As a personal column,
there wasnt hard vocabulary and it was a very easy read so I would recommend it to anyone that
would be interested in this topic.
Other Quotes:

I understand the fierce love that we feel for our children, but if we truly love them and
want them to grow, we have to tell them the truth about their actions and how those

actions shape who they are.

Research has consistently shown that proactively teaching your children (and white
children especially) about racism telling them that discrimination exists in the world
is far more effective than ignoring race and pretending as if the world is colorblind.