Toward an Abolitionist Leadership Theory: Concepts and Cases of Anti-Racist Educational Leadership

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 7:45 am - Gold 1

Session Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

This symposium explores abolitionist and anti-racist leadership in education through conceptual, empirical, and practice-based lenses. Drawing from critical race theory, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and liberatory leadership frameworks, the session examines how educational leaders resist systemic oppression and cultivate justice-centered learning environments. Presenters will address the intersections of race, poverty, equity, and identity, and call for leadership that moves beyond tongue-in-cheek equity rhetoric toward an authentic transformative praxis. Topics include moral panic discourses, culturally individualized leadership, anti-racist pedagogical memory, and identity-driven leadership models. Collectively, the session papers offer a compelling argument for reimagining educational leadership as abolitionist work—anchored in equity, student voice, and community healing. It contributes to ongoing scholarship on leadership that dismantles, rather than adapts to, injustice.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Education

Chairs

• Rhonda Humphries, The New Teacher Project

• Charles L. Lowery, Virginia Tech

Papers

• Black Males as “Folk Devils”: Examining Moral Panics in K-12 Education - Cleo Wadley, Harris County Department of Education

• The Role of the Principal in Transgressing the Social Construction of Race in Schools - Cornell Thomas, Texas Christian University

• Overt and Covert Anti-Racist Pedagogies: Student Memories from Secondary and Postsecondary Schooling - Marcus Johnson, Virginia Tech

• Educational Leadership at the Intersection of Race and Poverty in American Schools: Countering Racial Inequality - Patrick M. Jenlink, Stephen F. Austin State University

• Preparing Anti-Racist/Abolitionist Educational Leaders for Transformative Praxis - Chetanath Gautam, Delaware State University

• Anti-Racism and Ed Leadership: Reimagining Educational Practice for Equity and Justice - Anthony Walker, Tarrant County College

Session Organizer

• Charles L. Lowery, Virginia Tech