Racial Socialization of Black Children: Families' Sociopolitical Preparation in and out of Schools

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Black parents’ and students’ experiences vary across educational spaces. While they are no monolith, some experiences are shared. This symposium examines parents raising Black children as they navigate and negotiate sociopolitical preparation for themselves and their children in relationship to schools. Critical race theory, sociocultural theory, and anti-blackness are applied as each paper examines different schooling contexts. The presenters delineate ways that parents are included, excluded, or maligned in their efforts to engage their children’s education while often, simultaneously, taking up the work of re-educating their children in the process. Each qualitative inquiry finds that parents of Black children are navigating the sociopolitical nature of schooling, while also addressing the racial socialization of their families, both within and outside schools.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Research Focus on Black Education

Chair

• Camika Royal, Loyola University Maryland

Papers

• Stuck in the Middle: Examining the Experiences of Black Middle-Class Parents in the Detroit Public Schools Community District and Surrounding Suburban Districts - Rema Reynolds, Eastern Michigan University

• "Parents Need to Know Their Rights": Black Parents' Response to the School-Prison Nexus - Timberly Baker, Arkansas State University; Joy Howard, University of Southern Indiana

• Diverse Parental Racial Socialization Practices of Young African American Children Attending an Urban Community School - Wintre Foxworth Johnson, University of Virginia

• Black Families "Re-Teaching" About Race in Early Childhood - Dawn M Cameron Williams, University of Washington

• Black Parent Engagement Within Restorative Justice Practices - Cierra Presberry, Michigan State University

• The Challenges and Agency of Black Mother Educators in Canada - Desiree Fleure Sylvestre, University of Toronto

Discussant

• Dorinda Carter Andrews, Michigan State University