“There's Something About HER”

Realities of Black Girlhood in a Settler State

in Girlhood Studies
Author:
Kandice A. Sumner drkandicesumner@gmail.com

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3270-4657
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2019.120304
Keywords:
black girls; colonialism; desegregation; intersectionality; Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO); racialized bodies; white schools
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Abstract

In this article I examine my lived experience as a Black girl in a white settler state using an autoethnographic approach within the framework of critical race and feminist theory to unpack the deleteriousness of existing as a Black female in a white educational settler state. Drawing on my doctoral research, I conclude that greater attention, in terms of theory and praxis as well as compassion, needs to be applied to the educational journeys of Black girls in white settler states, particularly in predominantly white schools.

Contributor Notes

Kandice Sumner (ORCID 0000-0002-3270-4657) has been a public-school teacher/leader for eleven years. She teaches African American Literature and is the Co-Director of the Legacy Scholars program which is a racial identity and leadership development program for Black, brown and multiracial students at Newton South High School in Newton, Massachusetts. In 2015 Kandice published a TedTalk entitled “How America's Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty.” She is an educational consultant and national public speaker who is passionate about helping all souls do better by those marginalized by systemic institutional oppression. Email: DrKandiceSumner@gmail.com

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Girlhood Studies

An Interdisciplinary Journal

Cover Girlhood Studies
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
15
Keywords:
black girls; colonialism; desegregation; intersectionality; Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO); racialized bodies; white schools
Print Publication Date:
01 Dec 2019
Online Publication Date:
01 Dec 2019
Copyright:
© Berghahn Books 2019

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