Centering the Voices of Black Women and Girls in English Education

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium brings together four Black women scholars whose research centers and elevates the experiences of Black women and girls within the context of English education. Voices represented in this session include middle school girls, graduate students, English teachers and English teacher educators, these papers highlight both the joys and traumas that Black women and girls experience in educational contexts, while acknowledging and identifying the potential for healing and repair. The scholars in this session draw on qualitative methodologies including case study, phenomenology, and autoethnography in order to shed a light on the continued need to create spaces in which Black girls and women can prosper.

Sub Unit

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

Chair

• Stephanie Robillard, St. Mary's College of California

Papers

• Embodied Knowledge: The Lived Experiences of Black Disabled Women - Elena Darling-Hammond, Stanford University

• No Shelter in the Time of Storm: A Black Womanist Inquiry into Teaching, Studying, and Surviving in Higher Education - Vivett Cereta Hemans Dukes, Teachers College, Columbia University

• A Critical Exploration of the Experiences of Black Women Secondary English Teachers in New York City Public Schools - Lakisha Odlum, Queens College - CUNY

• Having Our Say: Black Girls Speaking Back to Their Teachers - Stephanie Robillard, St. Mary's College of California

Session Organizer

• Stephanie Robillard, St. Mary's College of California

Discussant

• Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Teachers College, Columbia University