Black Teachers Are Essential: A Comparative Study in Black Student Experience

• In Event: Lived Racial Experiences and Pedagogies of Freedom and Care

Abstract

This study examines the comparative experiences of Black students in traditional school settings versus their experience when learning among an all-Black faculty as part of a summer enrichment program. Participants are seven middle and high school students, all of whom identify as Black and female. After immersing in the 3-week-long summer program with education organization, Making Us Matter (M.U.M), students were invited to participate in two focus group discussions that unpack their experiences both at their home schools and with M.U.M educators. While findings are pending, researchers hypothesize that students will report feeling a stronger sense of belonging, visibility, freedom from criminalization, representation, support in racial climate navigation, and perception of self and cultural identity.

Authors

• T. Gertrude Jenkins, University of San Francisco

• Eghosa Obaizamomwan Hamilton, University of San Francisco