Fostering Positive Ethnic Relations Between African American and Latino Children: A Collaborative Urban Program Using Art and History

This account of a 1998 National Association for Multicultural Education workshop suggests how making and discussing art can broaden and deepen multicultural education beyond a tourist survey of food, clothing, and customs. A partnership of artmaking and multicultural education that develops creative behaviors necessary for realizing social justice, through critically reflective art activities, is described. The complexity of creating an equitable, tolerant, and just learning environment with diverse learners is compared to the complexities of making and discussing art. The discussion presents the arts as a metaphoric way of thinking about, a model for developing, and an actual modality for developing multicultural education.