I Said What I Said: Celebrating Black Women’s Voices Through the Genius of Black Girlhood

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

To dream a world where education is free of racial injustice, is to imagine a society that values the voices of Black women and celebrates the genius of Black girlhood. As stated by Dr Ruth Nicole Brown (2013), Black girls “have been wrongly instructed that their voices are unimportant” (Brown, 2013, p. 184). Too often they are silenced and suppressed by systems that perpetuate the invisibility of Black women regardless of their efforts to be seen and heard. This session acknowledges the harm committed in educational spaces against the voices of Black girls and brings awareness to approaches that honor their brilliance while bearing witness (Dillard, 2008) to the wisdom that emerges when in relationship with Black women (Brown, 2013).

Sub Unit

• Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education / Division K - Section 09: Initial Teacher and Teacher Educator Preparation

Chair

• Ashira Mothersil, Teachers College, Columbia University

Papers

• Home: Using Radical Love as a Liberatory Practice to Cultivate the Voices of Black Girls in the Music Classroom - Ashira Mothersil, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Empowering Black Girls Through Hip-Hop and the Freestyle Cypher: A Philosophical Approach to Honoring Voices and Fostering Self-Love - Toni Blackman, Independent Artist

• Lift Me Up: Centering the Voices of Black Girls in Joy and Liberation Through Dance and Spoken Word - Aysha Upchurch, University of Texas at Austin