"They Don't Talk to White Girls Like That": A Meta-Synthesis of Black Schoolgirls' Differential Experiences

• In Event: Ethnic Identities, Critical Consciousness, and College Choices of Youth of Color

Abstract

In order to better understand how Black girls navigate potentially hostile school settings, the present study explores how Black adolescent girls experience differential treatment by adults in school through a systematic qualitative meta-synthesis. This study integrates data from 51 qualitative studies on Black girls’ experiences in school to give voice to the perspectives of Black adolescent girls when they observe staff engaging in differential treatment. Preliminary qualitative analyses finds Black adolescent girls describe experiencing being treated differently based on different aspects of their identity such as race x gender through school staff’s policing of dress and standards for being a lady; race through being less respected and punished more severely by staff; and gender through day-to-day interactions with school staff.

Authors

• Aisha Griffith, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Catrina Dorsey, University of Illinois at Chicago