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Educator Tamara Bunnell on teaching contested histories
On February 11, , educator Tamara Bunnell spoke with Densho about three decades of classroom practice navigating sensitive and contested episodes of the past. She is a Seattle high school history teacher and Dean of Students. She also develops museum curricula and leads community projects.
Bunnell prioritizes careful use of primary sources and the power of oral history. She argues that teachers must refuse false neutrality when facts and rights are at stake. Her methods provide concrete techniques for helping students examine multiple perspectives and link local legacies to national trends.
From an ESG perspective, education that foregrounds evidence and civic responsibility strengthens community resilience. Sustainability is a business case for durable civic institutions; in classrooms, that means building skills for critical inquiry and democratic participation.
This opening section frames the conversation and outlines the themes explored in the full interview: classroom strategies, curriculum design, community engagement, and practical steps teachers can adopt immediately.
What makes a history “difficult” and how to frame it
Tamara defines difficult histories in two overlapping ways: events that expose human cruelty or systemic failure, and narratives that are politically contested or unpopular. These materials unsettle students because they disrupt comforting stories of progress and virtue. They also invite pushback from people who prefer simplified patriotic accounts.
She rejects both avoidance and careless presentation. Instead, Tamara structures learning around layered context and corroborating evidence. Students are taught to read each source as a clue rather than a complete account. This approach preserves emotional safety while building critical thinking and historical empathy.
Classroom routines matter. Tamara sequences background reading, primary documents, and interpretive questions so learners encounter evidence before judgment. She models how to weigh competing claims and flags the limits of single documents. That scaffolding reduces defensive responses and opens space for reasoned inquiry.
From an ESG perspective, cultivating civic literacy aligns with long-term social resilience. Sustainability is a business case for stable communities and informed citizenship. Teaching contested pasts equips students to navigate public debate and to engage responsibly in democratic life.
Practical steps teachers can adopt immediately include pre-teaching difficult vocabulary, offering content warnings, and providing small-group discussion formats. Use of multiple media—letters, photographs, official reports—helps students triangulate meaning. Leading teachers have understood that layered evidence and clear structures turn discomfort into learning opportunities.
Examples from Tamara’s practice show how this works in a typical unit. She opens with context-setting timelines, asks targeted source-analysis questions, and closes with reflective prompts that link past events to present implications. The result is a classroom where difficult histories are neither hidden nor sensationalized, but examined with care and rigor.
Practical strategies: context, source literacy, and perspective
The starting point is situating a document within its institutional and social context. Historians and students should ask who produced a record, for what audience, and under what power relations. This step clarifies the power embedded in language and silences. It also reveals what the source was designed to achieve.
Next, pair institutional records with alternative materials. Seek oral testimony, community archives, newspapers, and visual evidence. Cross-referencing reduces reliance on a single narrative and uncovers omissions. For example, juxtaposing school administrative files with Indigenous testimony exposes contrasts between stated goals and lived experience.
Teach explicit methods for verification. Use provenance checks, comparative source analysis, and basic archival literacy skills. Encourage students to annotate sources with questions about intent, audience, and gaps. Build assignments that require triangulation across at least three different source types.
Address ethical considerations when working with marginalized communities. Prioritize consent, culturally appropriate handling of sensitive materials, and community collaboration. From an ESG perspective, these practices mirror corporate commitments to stakeholder engagement and transparent reporting.
Finally, translate analysis into practical outputs. Have learners produce contextualized narratives, annotated archives, or public-facing exhibits that highlight multiple voices. Sustainability is a business case for durable curricula: methods that emphasize rigor and inclusion produce more resilient historical understanding and better public trust.
Using oral history as a bridge
Building on the business case for durable curricula, educators can use oral history to anchor rigorous and inclusive lessons in lived experience. Oral testimony converts abstract summaries into concrete voices. Students hear phrasing, hesitation and detail that documents often omit. This sensory realism makes systemic injustice feel immediate and personal, and it strengthens ethical reasoning and civic reflection.
In one classroom project, a play based on interviews and archival material brought wartime incarceration into dialogue. The script preserved witnesses’ words so classmates could imagine the subjects as neighbors or peers. From an ESG perspective, that human connection reinforces social cohesion and public trust in institutions that teach history responsibly.
Sustainability is a business case for curriculum design that endures. Methods that centre primary testimony improve retention and encourage long-term civic engagement. Practical steps include sourcing recorded interviews, applying transcription and contextual notes, and pairing testimony with institutional documents for critical comparison. Leading institutions that adopt these practices report deeper student empathy and more resilient historical understanding—outcomes that support both education goals and broader social objectives.
Connecting local and national stories
Tamara, a secondary-school history teacher, pairs local episodes with national policy to make causation visible. She maps laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, the boarding school system and episodes of regional racial violence on a shared timeline. The classroom comparison highlights how these policies overlapped chronologically and reinforced one another.
Students then compare historical redlining maps with current housing prices in Seattle neighborhoods. By tracing those overlays, pupils can observe how long-standing systems of exclusion shape present inequalities. This method turns abstract concepts like structural racism into testable patterns students can investigate in their own communities.
The approach strengthens civic awareness and cultivates deeper empathy. Educators report more resilient historical understanding and clearer links between past policy and current outcomes. From an ESG perspective, this pedagogy builds social governance literacy that benefits communities and institutions alike.
Leading companies have understood that education which illuminates systemic harms supports broader social stability. Practical classroom exercises—archival mapping, local data comparison and oral testimony—offer concrete entry points for students to connect history with contemporary civic responsibility.
Rejecting false neutrality
Building on local mapping, data comparison and oral testimony, Tamara frames ethical clarity as a classroom standard. She does not prescribe beliefs. She refuses, however, to present morally settled atrocities as if they have two equal sides.
From an ESG perspective, clarity matters because labels and narratives shape future choices. Tamara will not equivocate about the wrongness of groups that perpetrate violence or racism. At the same time, she invites inquiry into causes and context so students can form informed judgments rather than adopt false balance as a shortcut.
Her approach rests on two practical pillars. First, explicit classroom norms establish that facts and harms are not neutral. Teachers state those norms at the outset, model language that names violence and discrimination, and set expectations for evidence-based debate. Second, media literacy is treated as core curriculum. Students learn to identify source intent, detect manipulative framing, and map their own informational bubbles.
Concrete techniques make the principle operational. Assignments require triangulation across primary documents, local testimony and official records. Assessment rubrics reward contextual analysis over performative neutrality. Role plays and deliberative exercises rehearse how to challenge bad-faith arguments while preserving rigorous inquiry.
Leading companies have understood that transparent standards reduce reputational risk. The classroom equivalent is clearer civic competence: students who can distinguish manipulation from legitimate debate are less vulnerable to polarizing rhetoric. The anticipated outcome is a cohort better equipped to judge public claims and to participate responsibly in democratic life.
Sustaining the work through partnerships and practice
Tamara credits students and community partners with making this approach durable in the classroom. Their curiosity and activism renew commitment and supply ongoing momentum.
Collaborations with museums and organizations such as Densho provide primary sources, oral histories and curricular materials that support responsible instruction. From an ESG perspective, these alliances share resources and reduce the burden on individual teachers.
Sustainability is a business case: pooling assets and expertise lowers costs, increases impact and strengthens program continuity. Leading companies have understood that investing in shared infrastructure yields long-term returns for communities and schools.
For early-career teachers Tamara offers pragmatic counsel: persist, protect your well-being, and adopt creative formats. Plays, oral narratives and local mapping make difficult history accessible while engaging diverse learners.
The anticipated outcome is cohorts of students better equipped to evaluate public claims and to participate responsibly in civic life. Practical roadmaps, supported by community partners and curated archives, will expand reach and resilience.