Our Eyes Are Watching God: Bearing Witness to Black Life and the Complexities of Black Joy on Death Row

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Twelve
  In Roundtable Session: Teaching and Learning as Black Liberation (Table 19)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to paint a narrative in exploration of the following research question: What can we learn about Black education, Black life, and Black joy from the voices of those who are incarcerated? Utilizing the theoretical lens of the Imprisoned Black Radical Tradition and the methodology of Portraiture, this article will explore this research question within the context of an urban high school book club co-led by Keith LaMar—a wrongfully convicted Black man currently on death row in Ohio. With this in mind, this article aims to document the complexities of Black life and Black joy in the midst of anti-Blackness and in the face of death.

Author

• Rachel McMillian, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author