The Black Body of Physics: How Physics was used as a Form of Black Liberation

• In Event: Genealogies of Black Possibility within 20th Century Black Education

Abstract

Objective and Theoretical Frameworks
This study explores the pedagogical practices of Black physics educators during the Jim Crow Era by investigating their intellectual genealogy of using physics as a form of Black liberation. Current historiography centers on Black students’ literacy skills (Givens, 2023), which leaves their engagement with science, specifically physics, understudied. Additionally, previous research in physics education limited their definition of diversity to focusing on ways to better the curriculum to involve white women in predominately white institutions (”PWIs”) (Walsh et al., 2022). Moreover, studies done on the experiences of Black physicists center the harm done to them by antiblackness, rather than approaching it from a view of Black thriving and resistance (Robertson et al., 2023). In order to understand the complexities of the pedagogy of Black physics educators, it is crucial to examine their practices with the lens of Sylvia Wynter’s ‘overrepresentation of Man’ and Michel Foucault’s biopolitics (Wynter, 2003) (Foucault, 2010). By using these frameworks, it becomes apparent how they countered the pervasiveness of whiteness by centering Blackness within their classrooms – leaving the question: How did Black educators in segregated Historically Black Colleges and Universities engage with liberatory practices when teaching physics?

Data and Methodology
Data sources for this paper include newspaper articles, scholarly articles, photographs, and course catalogues from Historical Black Colleges and Universities (“HBCUs”) found in six historical archives. This method allowed for the centering of Black physics educators as they navigated teaching physics at HBCUs between 1877 and 1964. A deep dive of each physics educator’s educational and professional background gave significant insights on how they engaged in liberatory pedagogy within their classrooms.

Results/Substantiated Conclusions
Findings demonstrate that physics has been taught to Black students since 1867 and that Black physics educators used physics as a tool for Black liberation. It was determined that during Jim Crow, there was no difference between the course offerings and course content between HBCUs and PWIs; though, HBCUs did experience financial adversity with purchasing adequate equipment for their physics labs. Moreover, Black physics educator(s) believed that to use physics as a form of liberation, physicists must explore the social sciences and humanities, along with having a strong understanding of the historical context in which they were learning and engaging with physics. With that re-centering of physics education, Black physics educators utilized the threat of war to garner support from white America – intertwining their need for adequate physics equipment with white America’s desire to win and show domination.

Scholarly Significance
As Black students continue to engage with physics, it is important that they understand the true extent of physics within Black history and how Black physics educators have transformed the curriculum to further Black liberation. To achieve these goals stated above, this paper reveals what can be uncovered when we center Blackness within the physics classroom.

Author

• Ayshea Banes, University of Wisconsin - Madison