Shattering broken mirrors and windows: Exploring youth liberation counter-stories through photojournalism

This paper witnesses a former fourth grade teacher’s visual truth telling experience in north Texas through the development of a photojournalism inquiry project. The unit broadly centered the question, “How have underreported stories of youth-led social justice movements been represented through photojournalism?” The author grounded this socio-cultural inquiry in her experiences with the public and private fervor of anti-critical race theory legislation passed in Texas during the summer of 2021. She explored students’ artifacts from a photojournalism inquiry unit on youth underreported stories. The author’s findings, based on close examination of students’ truth-telling documentation, highlight the importance of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors in anti-oppressive elementary social education.