Lowell Students Learn to Recognize the Anatomy of a Caste System with Isabel Wilkerson

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson made a big impact on the Lowell community in January when she participated in two virtual presentations in connection to Social Justice Day. Though Social Justice Day has been rescheduled to April for health and safety reasons, Middle School students enjoyed a private session with Ms. Wilkerson, who most recently authored Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents.  

 

Social studies teacher Katie introduced the themes of Caste in class earlier that week. Together, she and her students read and watched author interviews from the Christian Science Monitor and PBS News Hour and went over excerpts from the book.

 

“You can think of caste as a hierarchy determined by society that is very difficult to change,” Katie explained. Ms. Wilkerson’s book explores how the caste system, largely associated with India but found worldwide, has been used in this country to oppress Black Americans. Race is a factor used to determine one’s place in the caste structure, she posits.

 

A Zoom session with 7th and 8th graders took place two days before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, which was especially fitting as Ms. Wilkerson explained how she began to recognize caste in the United States. She told students about Dr. King’s trip as an honored guest to India in 1959, where he was compared to the country’s lowest caste, then known as the “untouchables.” He realized the truth of this comparison: much like the “untouchables,” Black Americans were limited and restricted in how they could live their lives.  

 

“This text aligns especially closely with the 7th-grade curriculum,” said Katie. Social studies in 7th grade examines human rights around the world through the Holocaust, the Civil Rights Movement, and modern-day China. Notably, Ms. Wilkerson’s research, books, and previous interviews highlight parallels between caste systems in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South, and students reacted strongly upon finding out that Nazi researchers visited the US to study the subjugation of African Americans. “I just think that’s crazy!” opined one student vehemently.

 

“I learned that neo-Nazi groups and Confederates were closer than I realized. Going forward, I want to explore how much the Nazis took from the Jim Crow laws and applied to the Third Reich,” said a 7th grader following class.

 

In one highlight of the session, students and the author enjoyed their mutual connection to the DC area. Ms. Wilkerson shared memories about growing up with parents who moved during the Great Migration and about going to school in Washington, DC, especially the differences in hierarchy she saw between neighborhoods east and west of Rock Creek Park. “I learned more about who she is as a person,” said one student in a Delta group session following the presentation. “I learned that a major reason why she wrote the book is because of her parents and their experiences,” added another Delta member.

 

The middle schoolers had a chance to ask several questions of Ms. Wilkerson. She noted throughout this session, and the evening session for the larger community, that Lowell student questions were among the most complex she had been asked on her entire book tour and demonstrated a great understanding and empathy for the subject matter.

 

Some examples included:

 

Ms. Wilkerson also answered questions about the process of researching and writing a book of this magnitude. “It inspired me to try to work harder when I heard how hard she worked on her books and on the research she did,” said one 7th grader. “I found that empowering (I mean, 15 YEARS!).”

 

Students enjoyed the detailed and honest account she gave, placing answers in a historical context or relating them to today’s events. “She thought we were mature enough to understand what was being put out there,” a middle schooler observed.

 

Ms. Wilkerson is already working on a version of Caste designed to engage young readers. Many of Lowell’s students are too eager to wait. “Several of my students went out and bought the book and started reading on their own time. So we decided to put together a weekly book group so that we can discuss it together,” said Katie.

 

Caste has continued to frame lessons in the subsequent weeks, including those recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Seventh graders completed powerful lifted line poems using only words drawn from the book’s second chapter. Caste will continue to provide them with a lens through which to consider the year’s social studies curriculum and the world around them.

 

Ms. Wilkerson left the students with words of encouragement and tools to navigate the caste structure in their own lives. “Wherever you are, you deserve to be there. You’re brilliant. You have tremendous gifts and talent. We have the responsibility to be who we choose to be.”