Surviving in the Wake: Black Families' Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Responding to Crises: Education in the Wake of COVID-19

Abstract

In conceptualizing “wake-work”, Christina Sharpe considers how those engaged in Blackness “tend to, care for…and defend the dead, the dying, and those living lives consigned, in the aftermath of legal chattel slavery, to death that is always-imminent and immanent" (p. 60). We build on Sharpe’s conception of being “in the wake” to explore Black families' experiences living and working in the wake of school choice policies that have led to varied outcomes for Black communities. Leveraging survey and interview data from a purposefully selected sample of 10 legal guardians we explored the experiences of Black families as they navigated “the wake” (Sharpe, (2016), while simultaneously enduring the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic—physically, economically, environmentally, and socially (Millett, 2020).

Authors

• Dwuana Bradley, University of Southern California

• Desiree O'Neal, University of Southern California

• Alvin Makori, University of Southern California

• Chanteliese Watson, Michigan State University