Black Joy in Collectively Defining Success

• In Event: The Unapologetic Love of Nuanced Black Joy: Our Relationships Sustain Us

Abstract

This comrade and co-presenter’s connection to Black joy stems from her experiences having to survive in schooling space and her current efforts to ensure Black students can thrive. She is an emerging school leader in a district that she grew up in. In a recent TED Talk, she discussed how her success as a Black, neurodivergent student was overlooked by the education system. Although the system constructed her as unsuccessful, she looked to the Black folks who believed in her. She was successfully able to maneuver the oppressive system but recognizes that systemic labeling that continues to limit Black students’ education. Her connection to joy and symposium contributions stem from how school leaders and teachers can engender joy through their everyday interactions with students. When Black children receive the affirmation, praise, and love that they deserve, then they believe in more communal definitions of success. Communal definitions of success dispel oppressive success labels that disadvantage Black students. She will cement Black joy as collective resistance in the everyday school environment.

Author

• Elizabeth Turner, Ohio Department of Higher Education
  Presenting Author