Smuggling Black Truth: Black Fugitivity in the Quest for Black Liberatory Educational Possibilities

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Renewal, Reclamation, and Recovery: Resistive Pedagogies in Times of Revile (Table 2)

Abstract

This study examines Black educator reactions to Florida's restrictive anti-Black educational policies, particularly those limiting discourse on race. It opens a contemporary window into acts of Black fugitivity in classrooms led by K-12 Black educators in Florida. Employing fugitivity as method and theory, this qualitative study draws on 40 in-depth interviews of Black educators analyzed through the theoretical lens of Black Fugitivity. Analysis suggests that while some educators employed covert tactics to ensure that their classrooms were still infused with authentic Black histories - “smuggling ideas"- others left the profession of teaching or the state of Florida, finding alternative ways to impact children’s lives. This study offers insight critical to Black teacher retention in an aggressively anti-Black political and educational environment.

Author

• Karla R. Thomas, Northwestern University