Resistant and Agentic Outcomes in the Face of Racism Among Black Families

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Research concerning the implications of racism suggest that racism has negative educational, psychological, and physical consequences for Black and African American families (Huynh & Gillen-O’Neel, 2016; Ladson-Billings, 1998; Lanier et al., 2017). How do Black parents and children positively develop and maintain full humanity in the face of racism? In what ways can critical race scholarship and research represent the complexities of living in a racist sociopolitical context, which includes awareness of oppressive forces and investing in the humanity of others? This panel seeks to uplift some of the ways that Black parents and adolescents acknowledge and face racism, while resisting and navigating its negative effects, and striving toward prosocial and critically-aware psychological outcomes. Across the three papers presented in this symposium, we consider the ways in which parents prepare themselves and their children to face racist treatment in the educational system, some of the intersecting social hierarchies that attempt to undermine positive child development (e.g., sexist and classist stereotypes), and unique skills and competencies that African American and Black youth must develop to thrive in American society. We aim to illustrate a sample of contemporary approaches to the study of racism, which advances developmental science using qualitative and quantitative methods as well as interdisciplinary theoretical frames. It is our goal to spark a discussion among attendees about researchers’ responsibility to reflect the realities of racism without flattening the strength and tact with which Black families navigate oppressive forces.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chair

• Kayla J Fike, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Discussant

• Nkemka Anyiwo, University of Pennsylvania

Individual Presentations

• Exploring Black Parents’ Critical Consciousness in Relation to Their Engagement With Their Children’s Schools - Presenting Author: Aixa Daphne Marchand, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Non-Presenting Author: Isis Settles, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie Johnson Rowley, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Non-Presenting Author: Matthew A Diemer, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Shubhangi Kumari, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• You Must Work Twice as Hard for Half as Much: Racial Socialization, Racial Discrimination, and Racism Awareness during Adolescence - Presenting Author: Natasha Johnson, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Stephanie Johnson Rowley, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Non-Presenting Author: Daphne Watkins, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Katie Richards-Schuster, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Myles I. Durkee, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Black Adolescent Altruism: Exploring the Role of Racial Discrimination and Empathy - Presenting Author: Kayla J Fike, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Non-Presenting Author: Casta Guillaume, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Jacqueline S. Mattis, University of Michigan