Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

This story intersects everything we teach about justice: whose labor gets recognized, how communities respond when institutions abandon them, and what solidarity costs. #education #historyteacher open.substack.com/pub/andychar...

When the Government Abandoned a Community, Lesbians Stepped In

The untold story of the Blood Sisters and how solidarity works when institutions fail

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December 19, 2025 at 5:24 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

The tools we’ve handed students to read are training their brains to skim. #teaching #reading #education
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Tech Companies Profit When Your Students Can't Focus

Inside the shallowing hypothesis—and how to fight back

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December 19, 2025 at 3:08 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

Your students think scientific discovery is a meritocracy? Show them Eunice Foote. #historyteacher #science open.substack.com/pub/andychar...

She Discovered Climate Change. History Erased Her Name.

In 1856, Eunice Foote proved CO2 heats the planet. A man got the credit—and a moon crater. Here's what your textbooks won't tell you.

open.substack.com

December 18, 2025 at 1:26 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

Teach students to ask whose faces appear in religious art and you’re teaching them to question who decides what “normal” looks like.
open.substack.com/pub/andychar...

Who Gets to Be Holy? How One Laundromat Changed What Sacred Looks Like

In 1967, Rose Waldon’s face became the Black Madonna—and reminded a congregation that divinity doesn’t require white skin.

open.substack.com

December 16, 2025 at 8:22 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

The history of Black Girl Scout troops teaches something textbooks usually hide: when institutions refuse, creating your own version isn’t just resistance—it’s a declaration that legitimacy doesn’t require official permission. #HistoryTeacher #HistoryEducation
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The Black Girl Scouts Who Made Their Own Uniforms

When institutions refuse to count you, you don't wait for permission—you create your own. A century of Black Girl Scouts building belonging.

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December 11, 2025 at 7:27 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

In 1947—seven years before Brown v. Board of Education—five Mexican American families in Orange County, California won a federal case declaring school segregation unconstitutional. Most students never learn this. Most teachers never teach it. open.substack.com/pub/andychar...

The Mendez Family Won School Desegregation in 1947. California Is More Segregated Than Ever.

The civil rights case your curriculum erased—and what it reveals about how inequality actually works

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December 11, 2025 at 7:23 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

Derbyshire’s story offers teachers a powerful case study in how innovation gets remembered—and who gets erased from that memory.
open.substack.com/pub/andychar...

The Woman Who Made the Future Sound Like the Future

Teaching innovation, erasure, and resistance through the story of Delia Derbyshire and the birth of electronic music

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December 11, 2025 at 1:01 AM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

What do you do when the rules are unfair—and everyone around you is following them?
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Your Textbook Teaches Korematsu Like It's History. The Court Didn't Overturn It Until 2018.

Fred Korematsu's "crime" was existing in California while Japanese American. The Supreme Court said that was constitutional—and they suppressed evidence to prove it.

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December 10, 2025 at 6:49 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

Book banning isn’t a recent phenomenon driven by anxious parents. It’s a direct descendant of anti-literacy slave codes—laws that made it a crime to teach Black people to read. The system didn’t disappear after 1865. It adapted.
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Book Bans Are Slave Codes. The Paper Trail Goes Back 285 Years.

How anti-literacy laws became school board votes—and why Jennie Proctor's pine torch still matters

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December 9, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

The Flattering Machine and AI's 'Yes-Man' Problem in Student Learning
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The Flattering Machine and AI's 'Yes-Man' Problem in Student Learning

New research reveals why chatbots struggle to challenge students' thinking—and what that means for cognitive development in K-12 classrooms

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December 8, 2025 at 12:55 AM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

Walt Disney Tried to Run Over His Employees. They Won Anyway

How 700 artists you’ve never heard of created Mickey Mouse, fought for screen credits, and changed creative labor forever

open.substack.com

December 5, 2025 at 2:50 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

"My Culture Is Not a Costume": The Majorette Debate Your Students Need to Understand

When the Cardinal Divas went viral at USC, they reignited a conversation about Black traditions, underfunded HBCUs, and who owns the dance.

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December 4, 2025 at 1:24 AM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

In 1980, a Trans Woman Won America’s First Video Game Championship. The Industry Wrote Her Out of the Story.
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In 1980, a Trans Woman Won America’s First Video Game Championship. The Industry Wrote Her Out of the Story.

Rebecca Heineman co-founded the company behind Fallout. She died at 62, still being rediscovered.

open.substack.com

December 1, 2025 at 8:14 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

When the medical system deems someone disposable, archiving becomes resistance. Alice Wong's story for educators thinking about whose voices matter—new at Prompts & Provocations.
andycharrier.substack.com/p/the-medica...

The Medical System Said Alice Wong Was Disposable. Her Archive Says Otherwise.

The disability justice icon who just died at 51 spent her life proving that some bodies aren’t problems to solve—they’re stories to preserve.

open.substack.com

November 28, 2025 at 11:13 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

📌 Hot take: Every elementary school teaches the Thanksgiving story. Zero mention that the Pilgrims weren't even part of it until 1880. New piece up on how to teach what actually happened—without ruining dinner 👇
open.substack.com/pub/andychar...

The Thanksgiving Story Is Wrong. Here's How to Teach What Actually Happened

Share this with a teacher who’s ready to teach Thanksgiving differently.

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November 26, 2025 at 4:47 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

When they banned Picasso and Chagall, they called it "protecting children." Sound like any school board meetings you've been to lately?

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The Nazis Taught Germany to Fear Modern Art. Sound Familiar?

When they banned Picasso and Chagall, they called it "protecting children." Sound like any school board meetings you've been to lately?

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November 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

Your classroom = where students learn to question national myths before they become “common sense”
andycharrier.substack.com/p/the-thanks...

November 24, 2025 at 2:16 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

It's time for some more power-to-the-teachers
andycharrier.substack.com

October 24, 2025 at 7:42 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

Quick Take: Schools Are Surveilling Students. It’s Not Working.
open.substack.com/pub/andychar...

Quick Take: Schools Are Surveilling Students. It’s Not Working.

Schools spend $3 billion annually on surveillance that disproportionately harms students of color. Here’s what teachers can do about it.

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October 20, 2025 at 5:50 PM

Andy Charrier.

@acharrier.bsky.social

7M people protested yesterday in order to preserve the value freedom, read here about one important yet hidden contributor to our flag history.
open.substack.com/pub/andychar...