Walk into Kevin Dua’s history classroom at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and the first thing you see are images. The most eye-catching is a painting of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls standing in a circle. In the painting by Robert Lovejoy, all of them smile and point while a black rag doll dressed as a minstrel singer hangs dead from a tree.
“When I first walked in, I was like, 'what the heck? Why is this picture here?,'” senior Lorra Marseille says. “But now I understand that it’s supposed to spark conversation.”
That’s the point for Dua.
“If you’re in Mr. Dua’s classroom you’re not going to get a watered-down version of history,” Dua, 30, says. “You will see the good, the bad and the ugly of American history.”
In these polarized times, discussing divisive issues in a high school classroom may seem dangerous to some teachers. Dua sees it as an opportunity to teach his students to think critically and consider other points of view. That style has won him accolades. He’s a finalist for the National History Teacher of the Year Award.
The Mural Challenge
“The example I have is of a 1930s slave mural hanging in a courthouse in Alabama,” Dua says to his class of seniors, while projecting images at the front of the classroom.
The mural was painted by a Chicago artist. There are two panels, one of a white man and the other a white woman. Underneath them in the image are other scenes of people working. Some of them are black slaves.
Dua says it was meant to show the social progression in the South and how slaves contributed to the foundation of the region.
“However, many people are upset,” Dua says to the class, “and have proposed that they should be removed. Why? For many individuals walking in, especially if you are African-American, this being displayed in such a spot where everyone and anyone can come in is a lot to-deal with. For other folks, this represents history. It is a great way to understand where we came from and where we are now, today.”
Let’s Test This
This is Dua’s first year teaching in Cambridge public schools. The district poached him from Somerville over the summer. Even though he’s new, he has no trouble engaging a room full of seniors.
He asks the students whether the mural should remain on display.
Marseille, who is African-American, says yes.
“It happened, and we’re still on the bottom of the hierarchy,” Marseille says to her classmates. “So, why not have it there? Why not show the world what it is?”
“So, let’s test this,” Dua says. “Let’s say Cambridge, Rindge and Latin wanted to put that right in the lobby?”
“I don’t think it would be such a bad thing to have it here. It makes you think,” Marseille says.
But as Dua prods more, Marseille reconsiders.
“It’s important that people understand our history. And how it relates to today,” she says. “But at the same time, if I’m walking into school, I already have to face the achievement gap. And now I’m like walking into a school that’s full of white people that are like mad privileged and there’s a whole bunch of slaves on the wall.”
Proficient Thinkers
On the other side of the room, with different students, Dua instigates a different debate.
“Should it be up? Yes, or no?” Dua says to the group referring to the mural in the Alabama courthouse.
“No,” they say.
“All artwork should be in a museum?” he asks.
“No,” the students say.
“What about the artwork in my classroom?” Dua asks.
“No, because it makes you think,” the students say.
Dua — who is black, and the son of immigrants from Ghana — never gives away how he feels about the mural. That’s part of his method for molding them into what he calls “proficient thinkers.”
Last year, during the election, when he was still teaching in Somerville, he saw the payoff of challenging his students.
“I love it when parents come in and they tell me that their child is challenging them,” Dua says. “I love when parents come in and say, ‘Hey, you’re the reason why my child was able to convince me that I should register to vote in this election.’ Because I can see that my students are taking what they’re learning in my classroom and applying it outside.”
Production assistant Tristan Cimini contributed to this report.
WGBH News’ coverage of K-12 education is made possible with support from the
Nellie Mae Education Foundation.
