A Black Mother’s Gaze: Reconstructing a Black Child’s School Experience Through Critical Race Mothering

• In Event: Critical Black Parenting

Abstract

What if a Black child’s school experiences were reconstructed through the gaze of a Black mother? This research aims to answer this research question. Using self-reflexive counternarratives as the data source, this study operationalizes the theory of critical race mothering to interpret the central role and complexities of the Black motherhood experience. The study reveals that school experiences are the impetus for Black mothers to teach complex concepts of the function justice in society, to counter negative messaging about race, and to invest in a positive outcome to ensure academic success. This research is significant because it demonstrates the crucial importance of educational institutions need to include the perspective of Black mothers when interpreting the performance and experience of their Black in educational spaces.

Author

• Larissa Malone, University of North Carolina Wilmington