White Privilege: What Can You Do?

White Privilege- Peggy McIntosh

“White Privilege” by Peggy McIntosh is a great article on its namesake. The most memorable part of her article is the list of privileges McIntosh records that are afforded to her because she was born with pale skin. This is a great article that can potentially enlighten readers, particularly white readers, on the privileges white folks have that people of color do not have. As McIntosh notes, some of the privileges she lists are rights that all people should have and some of them are ones that no one should have in a ideal equal society. I would love for my students to read this article and brainstorm what can be done to combat the unfair advantages and disadvantages afforded to people because of their race, class, gender, etc. This is an article that would be read in a social studies classroom. A fun activity for the class could be to add to the list McIntosh put in her article of privileges. The weakness of this article is that it does not list specific solutions to the problem of white privilege, but I could do a class activity brainstorming possible solutions. I read this article in Individual Cultural Diversity and in my study abroad class in Ghana.

Grade Level: 9-12