Unraveling Bias: How Prejudice Has Shaped Children for Generations and Why It’s Time to Break the Cycle

As a White Southerner who grew up with the specter of Confederate flags, Dr. Christia Spears Brown has direct experience of overt racial, gender, and class biases. With her research background in developmental psychology, the author explains the science behind bias and how children develop stereotypes about gender and ethnic groups. She underscores the adverse impact of biases on children in both marginalized and privileged communities. This book serves as a call-to-action for parents and teachers to take a stand and interrupt harmful generational patterns of thought and behavior.

Unraveling Bias is a timely read as Americans grapple with resurgent book bans, school board members spouting racist ideologies, and sustained attacks on transgender children. The book focuses on reducing biases that affect children from racialized groups and immigrant backgrounds, and it offers ways to protect LGBTQ+ rights in schools and communities.

As a White educator and social scientist, Spears Brown models how to become an upstander and advocate against bias for others with privileged racial identities. She offers pragmatic advice for teachers on how to stand up for diversity and inclusiveness in the classroom. Beyond inspiring individual action, she also emphasizes the importance of changing cultures, systems, and policies that perpetuate biases and maintain inequities.