Self-awareness is the first step to building a sense of racial humility. Racial Humility is the ability to recognize that you only have one way of seeing the world and there are many other valid and important perspectives from people across races. To understand your perspective and where it came from, we are going all the way back to your childhood and thinking about the first time you realized that there was a concept called race. Getting to know how you formed your lens on the world is helpful for realizing that your lens is not absolute truth or representative of everyone.
Think back to your earliest memory of race, the first time you remember thinking about race.
What happened? Who was there? How old were you? What emotions were you experiencing.
Fill in the blanks below to better understand what was happening in that moment.
Find a partner and share. As you share, you might think about how long it has been since you thought about this memory. If it’s been a long time, why has it been so long? If it’s been a short time, what brought this up for you recently?
Take a two-minute moment of silence to think about how your ideas and beliefs about race might be shaped by your past experiences. Then, write down one word to share about the exercise.
Cultural Humility, Juliana Mosley, Ph.D. (YouTube)
Hear Something, Say Something: Navigating the World of Racial Awkwardness (NPR)
Test Yourself for Hidden Bias (Tolerance.org)
What Your Oldest Memories Say About You (Psychology Today)
My Racial Journey was developed at the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development and with the Office’s Positive Racial Identity Development in Early Education (P.R.I.D.E.) Program. This work was funded by a 2019 Open Education Resource Grant from the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of the Provost.
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My Racial Journey was created by the University of Pittsburgh
Office of Child Development and the Office’s P.R.I.D.E. Program.
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