Albert Broussard's intention to capitalize one letter in one word may impact millions of children around the US and how they learn about race.
Broussard, a longtime history textbook writer for McGraw Hill and a history professor at Texas A&M University, is planning to capitalize the b in Black in a lengthy revision to a history textbook used in American middle and high schools. His revisions are happening as civil unrest grips the nation and while experts argue that change is needed in how Black history is taught in the US.
Whether to capitalize the b in Black is also part of an ongoing historical debate on racial identification that dates back to sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois more than a century ago.
McGraw Hill is one of the country's largest K-12 textbook publishers that may use Black capitalized following protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed May 25 after a White police officer was seen on video pressing his knee onto his neck.
The ultimate decision on whether a capitalized Black will be used in Broussard's revision will be made by McGraw Hill's internal staff editors, authors and academic advisers, which is a diverse group of people, the company told CNN over email. The publisher is "strongly considering it," McGraw Hill said.
"I just personally would like to see it capitalized because I think African American and Black are used interchangeably by most people in the population," Broussard said. "If you start children out thinking about Black or White or any group that way, that's how they will think about them for the rest of their lives."
McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are purveyors of the final drafts of history. While it is unclear how many textbooks each company sells each year, more than $209 million worth of K-12 social studies books were sold in the US in 2018, according to data provided to CNN by the Association of American Publishers.
The Associated Press and New York Times were among numerous publishers of the first drafts of history to capitalize Black recently. CNN made the same decision and will also capitalize White.
Cengage, an education and technology company which has nearly a dozen different K-12 history programs and books in the US, will capitalize Black and White while Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will be capitalizing Black.
"Cengage has undertaken a review of our textbooks and learning platforms for both higher ed and K-12 to evaluate our standards and practices. The capitalization of 'Black' and 'White' has been raised for consideration as part of this review, and is being adopted in texts where pertinent to the discussion, including the most recent edition of AP Human Geography," the company told CNN in a statement.
These decisions have been praised by teachers and education experts alike.