Establishing a Quality Literature Base: Barriers That African Americans Face in Becoming Teachers

• In Event: Teacher Experiences of Race and Diversity in Teacher Education

Abstract

Research documents the need for increased representation of African American teachers in the United States teacher workforce (Boser, 2014; Cole, 1986; Gershenson, Holt, & Papageorge, 2015; Wilder, 2000). Throughout the past few decades, many researchers have investigated the cause of this shortage, documenting the barriers for African Americans which exist throughout the process of becoming a teacher and proposing solutions. This paper summarizes, reviews, and critiques this literature in order to document and describe the current context of becoming a teacher for African Americans. Limitations in the literature are described based on Padilla (2004), and future steps to accommodate for and surpass weaknesses of the current literature are provided.
Keywords: teacher, barriers, African American, career decisions

Author

• Rebecca Godwin, Johns Hopkins University