Introduction: Teaching Black Lives Matter

In the era of Black Lives Matter (#BLM), urban teacher education does not exist in isolation. The White supremacist, neoliberal context that impacts all aspects of Black lives also serves to support antiblackness within the structures of teacher education. In this article, the authors, who are grounded in a race radical analytical and political framework, share a vision of what it means to be an urban teacher who actively understands and teaches in solidarity with #BLM. The authors unpack their theoretical framework and the vision of #BLM while examining the state of teacher education in this era of neoliberal multiculturalism. The authors contemplate what a race radical, #BLM-aligned, approach to urban teacher education might look like. The article concludes by addressing ways that teacher educators must be in active solidarity with the #BLM movement to better prepare teachers who understand that the lives of their students matter within and outside of their classrooms.

In the era of Black Lives Matter (#BLM), urban teacher education does not exist in isolation. The white supremacist, neoliberal context that impacts all aspects of Black lives also serves to support antiblackness within the structures of teacher education. In this article, the authors, who are grounded in a race radical analytical and political framework, share a vision of what it means to be an urban teacher who actively understands and teaches in solidarity with #BLM. The authors unpack their theoretical framework and the vision of #BLM while examining the state of teacher education in this era of neoliberal multiculturalism. The authors contemplate what a race radical, #BLM-aligned, approach to urban teacher education might look like. The article concludes by addressing ways that teacher educators must be in active solidarity with the #BLM movement in order to better prepare teachers who understand that the lives of their students matter within and outside of their classrooms.

Radical Teacher, 2016

This essay is a conversation between and teacher and student who worked together on the first iteration of a course that juxtaposes the Civil Rights Movement with the Black Lives Matter movement. Through their conversation they uncover what went well and what changes need to be made so that the course can be more transformative.

International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 2019

In this study, we sought to understand how Black lives matter (BLM) epistemology, as displayed through six months of social media content from official accounts, can inform a racially liberatory pedagogy in higher education for Black and other racially minoritized students. We found BLM, through Facebook and Twitter, situated intersectional Black culture in the contemporary struggle for liberation. BLM also offered information that can raise its followers' intersectional critical consciousness. Additionally, BLM content highlighted actions that can support Black liberation. Lastly, BLM content supported the building of relationships and naming of emotions as Black people work toward their liberation. In this sense, BLM connected with elements of a racially liberatory pedagogy and offered nuances that advanced the framework. We discuss the implications of this framework for teaching in higher education.

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education, 2021

The Institute for Urban Education (IUE) began in 2005, following unitary status of Kanas City Public Schools in 2003, as a four-year undergraduate urban teacher preparation program to prepare students to interrupt school-centered practices of Eurocentric identity and antiblackness. A program feature entails recruitment of high school students from urban communities and scholarships to support fulltime preparation without employment distractions. Graduates commit to teach for a minimum of four-years in an urban school. Our investigation incorporated BlackCrit with in-depth interviews to capture the experiences of nine graduates in the schools where they teach or engage in school leadership. While testimonials from graduates indicate success of the program, our investigation underscores new pathways for Black valuing of youth and their communities.

2020

Curatorial note from Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: "Teaching #BlackLivesMatter" was an event organized by the Mentoring Future Faculty of Color group at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, that explored "how to address racialization and state power as scholar-teachers, working at the level of both immediately executable plans for teaching/research, and longer term strategies for making the academy accountable to racial violence." In order to extend this conversation to as many voices as possible, the organizers set up an open syllabus using Google Docs. Contributors are invited to share resources, activities, discussion questions, and assignments related to teaching anti-racism. The use of simple technology helped advance the group's objectives for the event and enabled it to reach a wider audience. This syllabus includes many activities, assignments, and readings that anyone can use in the classroom. It also provides a model for creating ...

Annals of Social Studies Education Research for Teachers

What does it mean to teach for Black lives when state governments are passing laws that prevent teachers from discussing race and gender? How can public education pay down the educational debt owed to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) children and their families when elected officials are prioritizing protecting whiteness at their expense? What role can social studies educators play in reducing the debt and promoting educational justice for racialized students? Educators have a responsibility to use their privilege and power to challenge those who use education as a weapon against the marginalized and oppressed. The Black Lives Matter at School (BLMAS) movement is offered as a space for public education in general, and social studies educators in particular, to enact what it means to teach for Black lives.

Comparative Education Review

Africology: Journal of Pan African Studies, 2019

This essay considers the implications of teaching about Black Lives Matter (BLM), a movement that joins a long tradition of Black American protest. We reflect on how BLM helps us illustrate intersectionality in the classroom. To make our argument, we take as a case study the controversy surrounding the Cincinnati Women's March in January 2018: BLM Cincinnati declined to participate in the march after Women's March organizers refused to listen to BLM's critiques of the theme "Hear Our Vote." We analyze the events, mainstream discourse, and activist statements around the controversy and reflect on how to use the conflict pedagogically.