This roundtable explores the teaching of Mexican American/Chicana/o history as American history and strategies of integrating the Mexican American experience in K-12 social studies/history curriculum and college level history courses. It focuses mostly on the American Southwest, northern Mexico and U.S.-Mexico borderlands. It considers how the history of Mexican origin people are integral to the larger narrative of the American story and how including the Mexican American/Chicana/o experience provides students with a more accurate narrative, and in many cases a culturally and historically relevant education. The purpose of integrating or teaching Mexican American history as U.S. history is to encourage students to critically analyze the historical, cultural, economic, political and educational contributions Mexican origin people have made to the making of the U.S. Engaging assignments such as oral histories, digital stories, primary source documents, family knowledge (funds of knowledge) and community cultural wealth can be contextualized within the larger narrative to reflect the voice of Mexican origin people, help students connect with the content and promote informed student engagement. We aim to facilitate a conversation about primary source documents, digital materials, culturally responsive pedagogies, technology and educational frameworks that facilitate the integration of the Mexican American/Chicana/o experience as U.S. history in K-16.

The participants in this roundtable are U.S. historians who teach Mexican American/Chicana/o History at universities in the Southwest. Each brings a unique perspective on how they teach Mexican American history or integrate the Mexican American experience into undergraduate history courses. Each participant with discuss the challenges K-12 teachers and history professors face in incorporating Mexican American/Chicana/o experiences in U.S. history courses that encourage students to critically analyze historical questions about the role and contributions Mexican origin people have made to the making of America. Presentations will provide different perspectives of teaching Mexican American/Chicana/o history as American history and ways the Mexican American experience can be integrated in K-16 history content. We invite participation and ideas from the audience that elicit a robust conversation and questions on the issues raised by the three participants.