Valuing Blackmale-nificence: Black Male Educators on Equitable 21st Century Educational Systems

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Anti-Blackness and Black suffering (Dumas, 2016) are highly visible in our contemporary society. Specifically, educational systems are complicit in perpetuating inequities and racial microaggressions, with particular impacts on Black male life. Through (critical) autoethnographic approaches (Berry, 2014; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009; Ellis & Bochner, 2000), four Black male teacher educators inquired into their experiences across K-12 and postsecondary Historically and Predominantly White Institutions (HPWIs). Studies in this session highlight anti-Blackness at HPWIs but also demonstrate what we call Blackmale-nificence. That is, although the findings from each study underscored the harms caused by inequitable educational systems, they also celebrated the competencies and liberatory excellence of the Black males. The findings have multiple implications for cultivating educational excellence in the 21st century.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Research Focus on Black Education

Chair

• Ramon Goings, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

Papers

• Equitable for Whom? Insights From a Black Male Teacher Educator's Student Evaluations - Shawn S. Savage, University of North Carolina - Wilmington

• A Critical Autoethnography of a Black Male Military-Connected Student - Willie C.J. Harmon, American Institutes for Research

• Using African Diaspora Literacy to Heal Educational Trauma - Jarvais Jackson, Georgia Southern University

• Unearthing Microaggressions in the Academy - Kevin L. Jones, Stephen F. Austin State University

Discussant

• Marlon C. James, Prairie View A&M University