Can race and assimilation be taught? Interdisciplinary pedagogy provides a methodology, context, and use of nontraditional texts culled from American cultural history such as from, theater and historical texts. This approach and these texts prove useful for an examination of race and assimilation in America. The paper describes a course that while organized chronologically, used the juxtaposition of varied texts to highlight the complexity of these social issues. By design, this methodology raises questions rather than providing specific answers. The purpose of this course was to encourage students to think critically about their own role in constructing concepts of race.