Search results

The purpose of this paper is to share my personal memories and emotions of my experience as an African American, a Woman of Color, teacher-peer, teacher-researcher, student and a colonized standard American English speaker, situated in English classrooms as white teachers teach African American literature from a white gaze. I concur with previous researchers on this topic, but from a fresh perspective that traditional educational spaces support racial-socio and linguistic hierarchies by avoiding authentic racial, social and cultural ways of knowing, thus allowing reproduction and perpetuating academic and social inequities targeted toward multilingual learners. Furthermore, I suggest that teachers must acquaint themselves with communities of color to become affective and effective to specifically facilitate multilingual classrooms.

This is an autoethnographic inquiry. It examines instances of culturally inexperienced white teachers teaching African American literature to middle school and high school multilingual learners. In adjacent, I share my personal memories and emotions of my experience as an African American, a woman of color, teacher-peer, teacher-researcher, student and a colonized standard American English speaker, situated in English classrooms as white teachers teach African American literature from a white gaze.

Undoubtedly, the white gaze influences marginalized persons. It does not merely attack who we be. It counter forms (e.g. influences) the views and ideas of the world around us. Gonzales (2015), shares in her autoethnography how educational practices are unjustly resistant to diversity. The racial-socio hierarchy uses every means necessary to deprive ethnicity (language, practices and beliefs). I did not verbally resist discrimination. Subsequently, some people of color may be guilty of having a slave gaze. I am very cautious and reluctant to use the term slave gaze. Nevertheless, I describe this as the opposite of having a white gaze. Slave gaze is someone who is colonized, dominated, submissive and feels unequal to whites and describes persons of color who have been conditioned to believe that whites are privileged and there is not much that we can do about it. I think this one way that Gonzales’ (2015); definition of double colonization can be extended, the racial-socio hierarchy in education forces marginalized persons to “redefine their identities within the dictates of yet another racial ideology” (p. 50). Undoubtedly, in re-identifying self-inflicts a counter-response to developing a substandard identity. Yet, I am certainly not the only person of color that is wary of challenging whiteness. Dismantling the master’s house will take more time. As white supremacist’s perceptions are embedded deep in the heart of education. Banishing false linguistic, cultural and racial ideologies equate to a mere few bricks of the master’s house. However, with non-traditional methods (e.g. getting to know the community in which the students live), renewed hearts and minds educators (together as a human race) can deconstruct and rebuild an education system fit for all learners.

This piece is an autoethnography of my experiences as a teacher teaching in multilingual classrooms. These are my original experiences and opinions.

African American men and women suffer from health problems such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, AIDS, sickle cell anemia, and various forms of cancer, often at a higher rate than the rest of the population. There is a need for information about these and other health problems affecting this particular community. This annotated bibliography includes recent articles, books, Internet resources, and Web sites. The audience for this essay includes the layperson, health‐care professionals, and information specialists who wish to provide information to patrons on these important health issues.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how African-American women, both individually and collectively, were subjected to both racism and sexism when participating within civil rights organizations.

Because of the intersection of their identities as both African and American women, their experiences participating and organizing within multiple movements were shaped by racism and patriarchy that left them outside of the realm of leadership.

A discussion on the importance of teaching social studies through an intersectional lens that personifies individuals and communities traditionally silenced within the social studies curriculum follows.

The aim is to teach students to adopt a more inclusive and complex view of the world.

The monograph argues that American racism has two colours (white and black), not one; and that each racism dresses itself not in one clothing, but in four: (1) “Minimal” negative, when one race considers another race inferior to itself in degree, but not in nature; (2) “Maximal” negative, when one race regards another as inherently inferior; (3) “Minimal” positive, when one race elevates another race to a superior status in degree, but not in nature; and (4) “Maximal” positive, when one race believes that the other race is genetically superior. The monograph maintains that the needs of capitalism created black slavery; that black slavery produced white racism as a justification for black slavery; and that black racism is a backlash of white racism. The monograph concludes that the abolition of black slavery and the civil rights movement destroyed the social and political ground for white and black racism, while the modern development of capitalism is demolishing their economic and intellectual ground.

This study aims to understand the asset and success factors that contributed to college completion of African American males who persisted through college. Only a dismal 22 per cent of African American males receive bachelor’s degrees compared to 41 per cent of White males (Kena et al., 2015).

The data were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. The authors interviewed two first-generation African-American males from rural backgrounds to capture their experiences of their process to college completion.

Themes, based in cultural capital theory, that impacted their college persistence were identified within their pre-college experiences, college experiences and post-college perceptions. Recommendations for helping rural African-American males attend and persist through college are offered.

Only two participants from one predominately white institution in the southeastern USA were interviewed. Rural students from other geographical areas might have different backgrounds, challenges, assets and successes. Although the interview questions were based on relevant literature, they may not have covered all key aspects of the participants’ experiences. As in any qualitative study, biases of the researchers and research team may have influenced the results, although these were identified and shared before reading any of the transcripts and then discussed several times during the data analysis process.

Educators not only should try to address the cultural capital limitations of these men but also highlight and build on their cultural assets. These assets include familial and platonic individuals who see their potential for success and encourage them to attend college to become something better than what they see in their community, reverse role models who encourage youth to make different choices than they did, media-based examples of successful Black students, cultural messages of strength and determination (e.g. Million Man March) and the exhortation to be an example that other African-American boys could look up to.

This paper addresses the need for K-12 and higher education institutions to understand how to assist first-generation, rural African-American males in getting admitted to college, matriculating through college and graduating from college.

This article examines the work of Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) and Mary Ritter Beard (1876-1958), two early 20th century historians and educators who dedicated their professional lives to the study and advancement of Black history and women’s history respectively. In addition to their historical research and prolific publishing, Woodson and Beard devoted significant time and energy advocating an inclusive historical narrative in US schools and colleges. This work focuses on three of their primary goals: (1) challenging and correcting the accuracy of the historical record, (2) using history as a tool for mitigating racial and gender stereotypes, and (3) bringing women’s history and Black history to the public. The article concludes with a discussion of the relevance and usefulness for contemporary educators of strategies used by Beard and Woodson as they sought to correct the historical record and develop curriculum that would engage all students.

General health, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, AIDS, and immunization are the greatest health issues affecting the African‐American community. Increasingly, there is a need to gather and disseminate information through a variety of outlets. This selection of health‐related resources provides access to information that is currently available on the Internet. The audience includes the layperson, educator, or health‐care professional who desires to gain more knowledge about health issues or seeks to share information with others on health issues. The materials chosen for inclusion were selected from the Web, using a variety of search engines and tools. The Web sites included were chosen based on their relevancy to health issues affecting African‐Americans and range of information available to meet the needs of various populations.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

This study analyzed gender balance in the texts and illustrations of three recently published, high school US history textbooks and one alternate volume of American history. In all of the American history texts analyzed there were significantly more males than females in text content and illustrations. These textbooks focused on the contributions of those famous Americans who have been a part of the historical record. The record is skewed with regard to gender, leaving teachers and students with the arduous task of acknowledging the absence of women while attempting to fill in the gaps through their own research and resources. Standards committees and textbook publishers should change their focus and teachers and students should confront gender imbalance by integrating high quality women’s history resources into the classroom with web-based resources, family and community history projects, young adult literature, history textbook analysis, and the vision of the C3 Framework.

Research often neglects the full continuum of the STEM pipeline in terms of underserved and underrepresented populations. African American males, in particular, experience limited access, opportunity, and preparation along STEM trajectories preK-12. The purpose of this paper is to challenge this gap by presenting examples of preK-12 programs that nurture and promote STEM development and learner outcomes for underrepresented populations.

A culturally responsive, asset-based approach emphasizes the importance of leveraging out-of-school practices that shape African-American males learning experiences. From a practitioner standpoint, the need to understand the importance of developing a STEM identity as a conduit to better improve STEM outcomes for African-American males is discussed.

To respond to the full continuum of the pipeline, the authors highlight the role of families and STEM programs that support African-American male students’ STEM identity development generally with an emphasis on how particular out-of-school programs (e.g. The Children’s Museum of Memphis [CMOM], MathScience Innovation Center [MSiC]) cultivate STEM trajectories. The authors conclude with how preK-12 settings can collaborate with local museums and other agencies to create opportunities for greater access and improve the quality of African-American males’ STEM preparation.

The intellectual value of our work lies in the fact that few studies have focused on the importance of examining the full continuum of the STEM pipeline with a particular emphasis on STEM development in early childhood (preK-3). Similarly, few studies have examined the role of identity construction and meaning-making practices as a conduit to better STEM outcomes for African-American males prek-12.