Mothers', Aunties', and Grandmothers' Thoughts on Black Boys' Early Educational Experience: "He Was Smart From the Jump"

• In Event: Unpacking Early Childhood Education With a Critical Lens

Abstract

The project is based in the reflective counter narratives of mothers, aunties and grandmothers of Black male students who attended a kindergarten readiness experience in their local urban school. Viewing counter-narratives as strength-based methods, the researchers examined the educational stories of five kindergarten boys told from the perspectives of mothers, aunties and grandmothers. These stories, sometimes contradicting, but resonating with racialized lives, describe; family, resources, teachable moments, discussions of race, striking resilience and parenting innovation based on lived experience. At the base of this study is a philosophical shift to study the resistance capital and familial negotiations in specific African American parenting examples to encounter and contradict societies racism and oppression. Discussions relate to critical action and messages to teachers.

Authors

• Janice Kroeger, Kent State University

• Elizabeth Guilford, Kent State University

• Rhonda Hylton, Kent State University