"It's a Camaraderie": The Power of Black Teacher Fugitive Space

• In Event: Fostering Black Space in Education: Co-Constructing Futures Through Community Collaboration and the Reimagining of Schools

Abstract

Objectives
Black teachers in the United States have built a legacy of teaching regardless of the potential harm that may fall upon their loved ones, their communities, and themselves. And yet, growing concerns about the impact of antiblackness on Black teacher attrition call for the need for interventions that will support Black teacher retention. This study follows one such group, the Black Teacher Project (BTP), which we conceptualize as Black teacher fugitive space, as a way to study how Black teachers can navigate their roles in combating antiblackness in their schools.

Theoretical framework
Fugitivity is what Ford (2015) called the “artful escape of objectification” (p. 4), and it connotes an enslaved person who runs away from anti-Black horrors toward a freedom dream. ross (2021) provides the framework of Black educational fugitive space as space enacted “through the social production of Black space in the margin.” We build directly on this notion of Black educational fugitive space to focus specifically on spaces created by and for Black teachers. We argue that the BTP is a particular kind of educational fugitive space–a Black teacher fugitive space–that has important implications for Black teacher retention and thriving.

Methods
We used the BTP based out of Oakland, California to collect three primary data sources for this study: interviews, open-ended survey questions, and field notes. To better understand the ways that the BTP supported teachers through its inquiry group meetings, we used observant participant methods during seven of the Bay area inquiry group’s 90 minute monthly meetings to see how this fugitive space supported teachers in navigating antiblackness, conducted interviews with half (10) of the inquiry meeting participants, and surveyed the teachers at the end of the year using open-ended survey questions.

Data sources
We uploaded the transcripts to a qualitative data analysis software. We began by focusing on the September inquiry group meeting to apply a priori codes to each turn of talk through looking for examples of fugitivity. We then made a second pass of the data, looking to generate in vivo codes, using concepts and words that came from the data itself. After generating a preliminary code book, we enlisted the support of a second coder to code the rest of the data to support interrater agreement. We coded independently and then came together to share our codes, reconciling differences through discussion.
Results
This Black teacher fugitive space supported these Black teachers not only in remaining in the teaching profession, but also in creating liberated learning spaces for their students and in seeking leadership roles. The space also supported teachers in negotiating their roles in addressing antiblackness in their school sites.

Scholarly Significance
The current national discourse around antiblackness in school environments motivates us to research what specific practices feel liberatory for Black teachers. If professional development is meant to support teachers in gaining knowledge and skills that support their teaching practices, then designing opportunities for Black teachers to experience teaching and learning in pro-Black spaces can arguably help them transfer those benefits to students.

Authors

• Jessica Lee Stovall, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Micia Mosely, Black Teacher Project
  Presenting Author

• Abram Jackson
  Presenting Author

• Michelle Cody, Willie L. Brown Jr. Middle School
  Presenting Author