A bridge of strings: Antiracist puppet theater and the racial socialization of white families

This study explores the intersection of performing arts and the racial socialization of white families through interviews with ten white mothers who attended a puppet theatre performance with their children that promoted counternarratives of Black resistance to Jim Crow discrimination. The study asks: How did this puppet theatre performance prompt white children and their parents to engage in the development of racial literacy together? Thematic analysis revealed patterns of emerging racial literacy along with hegemonic narratives which resisted addressing race. The findings of this study suggest that the performing arts elicit critical antiracist discussions between white parents and their children.