This page contains resources and tools for centering antiracism in the public health academic setting. You can use them to increase your own awareness and capacity to engage in discourse and professional practices that reflect an inclusive climate and values system. This guide attempts to center on the multifaceted lens of public health. A good starting point to frame the impact of racism is the American Public Health Association (APHA) Health Equity page.
The website has over 3,000 racial equity resources including tips and ideas, curriculum guidance, an overview of the history of racism and definitions, shared data including demographic and population data as well as survey responses, current issues, and action plans, and strategies for engaging in racial equality work.
Center for Urban Education (CUE)'s Racial Equity Tools
CUE’s Racial Equity Tools aim to change the minds, hearts, and practices of faculty, staff, and leaders—all of whose collaboration is essential to achieve racial equity in higher education.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Antiracism Toolkit
This toolkit, created by the Oregon Library Association, provides additional resources focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Tips for Creating a More Inclusive Syllabus (PDF)
Ginger R. Fisher, PhD and Susan M. Keenan, PhD (2020)
This guide reflects on the importance of creating an inclusive syllabus that is not offensive to first-generation students. As the syllabus is responsible for creating a first impression of the instructor, it is essential to establish a positive interaction by providing clarification and additional explanations for those who may not be familiar with the format of a syllabus.
Arianna Taboada (2011)
This article examines how providing students with community service learning, in order to fulfill the public health competency of diversity and culture, can lead to middle-class students volunteering in low-income communities which results in an imbalance in power and privilege. It would be more advantageous for public health programs to construct a curriculum that fully assesses institutional racism in health disparities as well as engages in discussions of privilege, racial oppression, and privilege.
Report: Universities Must Cultivate Race-Conscious Policies to Address Historical Inequities
Lois Elfman (2020)
This article explains the importance of universities implementing race-conscious policies, due to the fact that institutions' racist admission policies, such as the use of standardized test scores and income cutoff points, have resulted in an underrepresentation of Black and Latinx students. These students face discrimination as well as racism, and therefore it is also important to employ diverse staff, as this sense of community can help universities recruit and retain students of color.
Rethinking the Course Syllabus: Considerations for Promoting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Milton A Fuentes, David G Zelaya, Joshua W Madsen (2021)
This article serves as a guide for instructors as to what to keep in mind when developing their courses. EDI offers a list of strategies that are categorized as considerations from adopting a diversity-centered approach to creating a friendly and inclusive environment in the classroom. Included in these strategies are the Standards of Accreditation, which will help teachers and students meet the requirements to promote competency.
Adopting an Anti-Racism Public Health Curriculum Competency: The University of Washington Experience
Amy Hagopian, PhD, Kathleen McGlone West, PhD, India J. Ornelas, PhD, Ariel N. Hart, MPH, Jenn Hagedorn, MPH, and Clarence Spigner, DrPH (2018)
With the help of organizations like the Black Lives Matter movement, a competency is created for students at the University of Washington School of Public Health in an effort to approach the topic of race and eradicate racism on campus. This article provides the committee plan process and the reasoning as to why the UWSPH chose to start this program. The University chose to divide the competency among three categories of students: undergraduate students, graduates, and students pursuing professional degrees.
Critical race theory, race equity, and public health: toward antiracism praxis
Chandra L. Ford, PhD, and Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, PhD (2010)
This article goes in-depth on critical race theory, a theory that studies the social and cultural structure in African Americans. This article analyzes the definitions of race-related topics for Public Health. This article focuses heavily on critical race theory and provides substantial information on the four basic features: race consciousness, contemporary orientation, centering in the margins rather than the mainstream, and the praxis.
Racism and Social Work: A Model Syllabus for Graduate-Level Teaching
Alexander Tisman and Daniel Clarendon (2018)
This article provides an outline for syllabus creation designed for graduate-level teaching and focused on racism and social work. It also explains how it can be implemented into undergraduate teaching.
Andrea Serine Avery (2020)
In this essay combining first-person narrative and scholarly literature, a classroom teacher examines the ways in which, despite having a self-professed goal of teaching for social justice, her syllabus centers, upholds, and normalizes default whiteness in her classroom. She interrogates her own teaching practice and invites other teachers to do so, as well.
Rethinking the Course Syllabus: Considerations for Promoting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Milton A. Fuentes, David G. Zelaya and Joshua W. Madsen (2021)
Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are receiving considerable attention in higher education. Within psychology, the American Psychological Association has highlighted the importance of cultural diversity in both undergraduate and graduate curricula and charged educators with facilitating the development of cultural competence among learners. This article provides a comprehensive and useful guide for developing a syllabus that assists with the integration of EDI, as the syllabus is the first opportunity for faculty to communicate their philosophy, expectations, requirements, and other course information. Infusing EDI in the syllabus is essential for promoting an inclusive learning environment and is conducive to establishing goals related to cultural competence
Tehama Lopez Bunyasi (2018)
This describes racial tensions among students in the classroom and the importance of utilizing the syllabus in order to help direct students on how to deal with racism and how conflicts can be avoided.
Toward the Science and Practice of Anti-Racism: Launching a National Campaign Against Racism
Camara Phyllis Jones (2018)
3 tasks: naming racism, asking, “how is racism operating here?” and organizing and strategizing to act. This article discusses a framework for anti-racism collaborative platform.
Black lives matter: A commentary on racism and public health
Jennifer Jee-Lyn García and Mienah Zulfacar Sharif (2015)
This article acts as a commentary focusing on confronting racism as a public health issue. Cases involving killings of unarmed Black men by police officers have incited a dialogue regarding police violence, racial injustices, and racism as a whole. Despite this commentary being motivated by such cases involving police shootings, Jee-Lyn and Sharif want to expand the discussion beyond individual cases and paint public health and racism as a bigger picture. The authors acknowledge racism as an essential component of public health. That being said, the authors aim to emphasize racism as a public health concern, differentiate between race and racism, discuss structural racism in society, and offer several calls to action in their commentary. This article provides substantial details as to why Public health should be obligated to address racism as a health concern.
The Public Health Critical Race Methodology: Praxis for Antiracism Research
Chandra L. Ford and Collins O. Airhihenbuwa (2010)
This is a journal article that details racial health inequities and the ability of research to measure how the effects of these inequities have increased over recent years. It describes how public health also needs to move past simply measuring these inequities and start working towards minimizing them. It defines race consciousness, defines critical race theory, breaks down the process of how to best conduct PHCR (Public Health Critical Race Praxis), as well its phases.
Committing to Equity and Inclusive Excellence
Association of American Colleges and Universities, Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (2015)
This is a 12-page report/campus guide that guides the planning of an inclusive and equitable campus environment. It breaks down the steps of creating this environment by committing to equity and expansion of opportunity and committing to inclusive excellence. It also provides a description of Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP).
Teaching about Race and Racism in the College Classroom by 
Social Justice Issues and Racism in the College Classroom by 
Race Dialogues by 
Anti-Racism in Higher Education by 
Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice by 
Facilitating Intergroup Dialogues by 
Microintervention Strategies by 
Dialogue Across Difference by This resource guide, created by Tufts University, highlights different racial justice movements on their landing page and focuses on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
Racial Equity & Liberation Virtual Learning series
This virtual learning series helps expand on racism and its dangers through a six-week program. Each week is devoted to specific practices which include Locating Oneself, Expanding Narratives, Moving Beyond Single Stories, Choosing Vulnerability, Identifying System Power, Levels of Racism, and Review and Reflection. This is a great resource for individuals to reflect upon themselves and learn how to approach racism.
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