Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future: Engaging Black Preservice Math Teachers with the Black Teacher Archive

• In Event: Black Educational Futurism as Praxis: Re/membering Through the Curation of Black Intellectual Lineage

Abstract

This presentation explores how engaging Black preservice math teachers (PSMTs) with the Black Teacher Archive (BTA) can strengthen mathematics teacher preparation by rooting it in the lived experiences and enduring commitments of Black mathematics educators. The BTA, a digital repository curated to preserve the intellectual and professional contributions of Black teachers throughout the twentieth century (Black Teacher Archive, n.d.), provides a powerful foundation for this work. Through archival engagement and guided reflection, Black PSMTs deepen their understanding of Black educational histories, reflect on their identities as future math educators, and consider how justice-driven pedagogies (Siddle Walker, 2018), can shape their classrooms. This work also draws on my own journey as a Black mathematics teacher educator committed to affirming and preparing Black PSMTs.

Grounded in Critical Race Theory (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995), this project centers counter-storytelling (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002) as a method for illuminating the lived experiences of Black educators and Black PSTs. It is also informed by Givens’ (2021) fugitive pedagogy, which highlights the intellectual resistance embedded in Black educational practice. These frameworks guide the design and analysis of the experience by centering Black voices, framing reflection as pedagogical action, and positioning archival engagement as a site of reclamation.

This study draws on multi-part learning experiences, embedded in my elementary mathematics methods course, anchored by intergenerational conversations to engage Black PSMTs in critical historical inquiry. The experience featured three primary components: (1) guided document analysis of selected archival texts, (2) video reflection on footage highlighting the work of Black math teachers, and (3) collaborative group dialogue to connect historical insights to their emerging math teacher identities. Students responded to a series of written and discussion-based prompts throughout the experience, encouraging them to name key pedagogical practices from the archive and reflect on how those insights might shape their vision for justice-centered instruction. Data sources for this presentation include written and verbal reflections and observational field notes from the session. These artifacts were analyzed thematically to identify patterns related to identity, historical connection, and commitments as future Black PSMTs.

Black PSMTs described teaching as a collective and community-rooted endeavor, drawing inspiration from the philosophies and practices of Black educators featured in the archives. Several participants expressed shifts in how they defined excellence, noting a move away from dominant narratives toward more culturally rooted and justice-centered understandings. Others described the experience as clarifying and affirming, naming the archive as a source of strength, direction, and purpose.

This project suggests that preparing Black PSMTs requires looking backward and forward; drawing on the commitments of Black math educators while equipping new teachers to disrupt inequity in their own contexts. As Siddle Walker (2018) reminds us, Black educators have long enacted expansive visions of education rooted in excellence, cultural responsiveness, and care. This presentation offers a model for using archival materials as living pedagogies that help Black PSMTs see themselves in the profession, draw strength from historical legacy, and imagine new possibilities for their math classrooms.

Author

• Lateefah Ameerah Id-Deen, Kennesaw State University