An Altar for the Living: Creating a Black Girl Sacred Space

• In Event: 34.045 - Healing Isn't a Metaphor: Centering Healing as Resistance Within Critical Racial Affinity Group Spaces

Abstract

This paper furthers the conversation about the necessity of Black feminist studies to better conceptualize the violence Black girls experience in educational institutions in a historical context. Black feminist studies is born out of struggle at the intersections of racism, sexism and classism that further marginalize Black women and girls in community and institutional spaces (Crenshaw, 1991). The contributions of Black feminists force us to reckon with a perpetuation of violence against Black bodies that are foundational to maintaining power under colonialism and slavery (Hartman, 1997; Spillers, 1987). It is through a Black feminist lens that we conceptualize the current public images of violence committed against Black girls as part of a tradition that legitimizes the use of violence to control the behaviors of Black girls inside and outside of the community. The emphasis on “correcting” behavior demonstrates this historical commitment to manipulating Black bodies (Fanon, 2005).

In the field of education, Black girls’ stories are erased or conflated with stories on Black youth, and/or girls. The public images of Black girls that surfaced last year in campaigns like #SayHerName have actively held those of us committed to justice accountable to protecting Black girls. Yet, In order to effectively contend with their neglect, we must not only begin and end with images of them being tackled, dragged, and punched by White law enforcement like in current trends, but we must also critically assess all of the ways they are disposed of daily, socially and literally (Richie, 2012).

In former analyses, our gaze had been on the importance of Black feminist scholarship to inform educators’ commitment to better support the development of Black girls. This paper extends that conversation by analyzing my ethnographic fieldnotes that describe the transformations that unfolded throughout a summer when I participated as a co-facilitator at a program for Black girls. The summer leadership institute was developed through a Black feminist and youth development lens, and introduced Black young women to art and activism led by Black women and girls to model the capacity for them to use their own art to resist violence committed against women and girls. From this experience, I witnessed the transformation that occurred first hand as Black girls were able to see their stories as part of a larger historical narrative that included struggle as well as beauty and joy. I will discuss the power of this engagement in fostering new modes of articulation that Black young women can utilize to express the ways they are experiencing the world and equipping them with tools to resist.

Author

• Aja Reynolds, University of Illinois at Chicago