"When They Teach Us": Oral History as Narratives That Reveal and Disrupt the Single Story About Black Children

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: The Intersection of Teacher Education and Black Education

Abstract

As we look to solutions to disrupt single stories about Black students, it is important for us to look to successful Black teachers of Black children – a group that has consistently and historically fought for and advocated for Black children while being overlooked and underpaid. We must not simply do research about them, but with them. This paper is a collaboration between a researcher and a Black elementary teacher who has taught Black children for the past 26 years. Through oral history interviews, this paper offers reflections from the field and anecdotes in the form of poetry that reflect the voice and experience of a Black teacher whose classroom has been safe haven for Black children for 26 years.

Authors

• Tunette Michele Powell, Mirman School

• Melissa Ali, Los Angeles Unified School District