To better prepare teacher candidates to teach for social justice, teacher educators need to know students' understandings of social justice embedded in their personal histories and past and current learning experiences. Using participatory action research, this study examines how 6 early childhood (grades pre-K-3) teacher candidates understood and changed, or did not change their understandings of teaching for social justice. Using qualitative methods, this research aims to understand the complexities of interactions between the participants' identity and their conceptualization of teaching for social justice within a teacher education program. The results of this study provide early childhood teacher educators with insights and tools for encouraging social justice teaching. (Contains 2 tables and 1 footnote.)