The Souls of Black Teachers: Theorizing Black Teachers' Spiritually Grounded Professional Lives

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Transformational Resistance: Stories of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Educators and the Struggle for Justice

Abstract

Spirituality has historically been the backbone of Black education rooted in both why and how teachers teach, yet spirituality is missing from current conversations about Black teachers’ engagement with culturally relevant and critical pedagogy as well as how they navigate structures that do not support them or these approaches to teaching. This paper utilizes existing literature on Black teachers, semi-structured interviews, and focus group data to theorize how critically conscious Black teachers engage spirituality in their professional lives.

Authors

• Keisha McIntosh Allen, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

• Montia Gardner, University of Maryland - Baltimore County