This article serves as a condensed history of the evolution of "critical literacy" and offers a context--social, cultural, and economic--that allows readers to understand its purpose and impact on teaching practices. This "family of approaches...share[s] a commitment to the use of literacy for purposes of equity and social justice. They aim for nothing less than readers, writers, listeners, and viewers who have cogent, articulated, and relevant understanding of texts, their techniques, their investments, and their consequences."