To Fall Asleep in the Barber's Chair: Understanding Black Students When You're a White Teacher

• In Event: 41.084 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 41.084-21 - Hip-Hop, Belonging, and Democratic Practice

Abstract

School systems were never designed for minority students (Fasching-Varner, K. J., Mitchell, R., Martin, L., & Bennet-Haron, K.P, 2014). However, this is no excuse for continuously leaving Black students out of the equation when designing curriculum, engaging students, and training teachers. There must be shifts in curriculum designs that includes spaces that are familiar to Black people. “In the current period, middle-class blacks may maintain their ties to the black world not only as a refuge from racial discrimination, but also because they enjoy interacting with other blacks” (Lacy, 2004, p. 911). So what does a young Black male do when home and school are teaching him two different things about the very same body? They visit the barbershop.

Authors

• Michael J Seaberry, Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge

• Brandon Stroud, Rochester Institute of Technology