“Representing the Race”: Black Mathematicians’ Paths to Excellence

• In Event: Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: African Americans and STEM Education

Abstract

This paper is an analysis of the lives, experiences, and professional careers of three ‘generations’ of US-born Black mathematicians—those who earned their PhDs in mathematics before 1965, between 1965 and 1985, and between 1985 and the present. The primary goals of the paper are to describe and contextualize Black mathematicians’ formative, educational, and professional experiences, exploring how race has influenced those experiences. In particular, building on the work of Boaler, Martin, and others, I examine how Black mathematicians across generations experience mathematics socialization and mathematics identity development in multiple school and out-of-school contexts, and how the traditions they experience in schools, communities, and organizations inform their mathematics identity, socialization, and professional practices.

Author

• Erica Walker, Teachers College, Columbia University