“Surviving” White Supremacy: Students of Color Realizing Dreams and Imagining Possibilities in Spite of Challenge

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Each paper will address an aspect of how students of color respond to the conditions and challenges of resisting and transcending educational systems rooted in white supremacy in order to realize their dreams of success. Moreover, each paper illustrates the textured and evolving methods employed by these students to overcome adversity and chart new pathways for future generations. In an era where student success is paramount and in coordination with this year’s conference theme, this symposium aims to highlight issues within varying educational contexts that threaten the “quest for equitable educational opportunity.” These papers offer empirically rooted, theoretically well-balanced alternatives to current realities, essentially and effectively painting portraits of student success in the face of adversity.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 2: Studies of diversity and variation within social contexts of education

Chair

• Shameka Nija Powell, Tufts University

Papers

• "Nevertheless, They Persisted": Black High School Students Resisting Educational Racial Equity "Reform" and Redefining Success - Ivory Marcel Berry, George Mason University

• Beyond Access and Opportunity: Exploring the Social Network Patterns of Students of Color - Montrischa Money Williams, American Institutes for Research

• "Claiming the Dream": Students of Color Navigating, Surviving, and Thriving in Public Higher Education - Cecilia Elizabeth Suarez, University of Florida

Discussant

• Kevin Lawrence Henry, University of Arizona