"We're Not Done Yet": Public Intellectuals, Rural Communities, and Racial Equity Organizing

• In Event: Reimagining Rural Education in the Times of Black Lives Matter

Abstract

Rural communities have a complex history of systemic racial, social, educational, and economic inequality; because of this history, they are uniquely situated to respond to racial inequality in meaningful and authentic ways. Even so, as a Black woman, trained sociologist, and educator situated in a rural, conservative, predominantly-white community in Texas, organizing and engaging the public in racial justice work has challenges. That said, through coordinated and specific efforts, it is possible to mobilize the community for change. In this presentation, I examine those efforts using autoethnography and narrative research. Drawing on public pedagogy frameworks that explore public educational sites, W.E.B. Du Bois's public sociology, and scholar-activist liberation capital theory, I reflect on the application of these perspectives and strategies as tools for engaging with others in my rural town during Black Lives Matter uprisings in the Summer of 2020. My presentation centers on how we engaged each other across racial identities and created capacity for impactful organizing on racial equity in our rural community.

Author

• Alexis Grant-Panting, Texas Woman's University