Black Girl Civic Leadership and STEM Identity Development

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: I Too Am STEM: Examining the Intersections of Race, Gender, and Identity

Abstract

This presentation highlights the rich contributions and civic engagement efforts of Black middle and high school girls who navigated through the constraints of poverty to transform their local and global communities. Utilizing the Multidimensionality of Black Girls’ STEM Learning conceptual framework (Authors, 2018), we explored the expressed civic identity and enactment of youth activism through community-based initiatives. Positioned as civic agents, Black girls collectively resisted injustice by providing solutions to systemic issues to promote social change. This case study sheds light on the importance of creating counterspaces where Black girls can problematize deficit notions, establish and maintain intergenerational relationships, and validate one another's experiences as important knowledge.

Author

• Natalie S. King, Georgia State University