Interrogating the Literacies of Black Boys and Building Curricular Connections in Comics, Literature, and Pop Culture

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 3:45 pm - Gold 4
  In Roundtable Session: Comics, Literature, Animation, and the Arts as Curricular Frames

Abstract

Underrepresented in advanced academics and overrepresented in special education and disciplinary infractions, Black boys often encounter bias, low expectations, and adultification that are barriers to their academic achievement. The continual legislative attacks on public schools, libraries, and higher education seek to erase/omit marginalized histories and stories reifies the goal of white supremacy, to nullify the experiences of disenfranchised communities. In this theoretical paper we draw on the framework of BlackboyCrit Pedagogy (Bryan, 2022) and our experience as literacy scholars and educational research/practitioners to reimagine ideas, content, and curriculum centered on empowerment and adolescence and how those ideas are presented to youth through narratives that center the experience of Black boys including young adult literature, comics, film and graphic novels.

Authors

• Christian M. Hines, Texas State University

• Erik Hines, George Mason University