Labor of Love: Black Motherwork in Navigating Homeschooling

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Four
  In Roundtable Session: Telling Our Stories: Critical Examination of School, Family, Community Experiences, and Student Development (Table 12)

Abstract

This paper explores the stories of Black homeschoolers, a growing but understudied population of families in the U.S. Participants in this qualitative study are homeschoolers in the Washington, DC metro area (pre-COVID-19). Drawing from motherwork (Collins, 1994) and BlackCrit (Dumas & ross, 2016) this study centers the role of Black homeschooling mothers in the survival and freedom of Black children. Their untold stories illuminate practices of liberation and educational freedom. My research aims to advance our understanding of this population, amplify their contextualized experiences, and increase the scholarly discussion of educational alternatives for Black students in the U.S.

Author

• Courtney A Douglass, University of Maryland
  Presenting Author