Week 1: (1/31)
Topic(s): Why this course? Why Black Feminist Theory?
Theme Song: Dear Mama
The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman.
The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman.
The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.
- Malcolm X, 1962
Reading Assignment (In Class):
- (1977). The Combahee River Collective Statement
WEEK 2 (2/7)
Topic(s): What is Black Feminist Theory?
Theme Song: A Song for Mama
Reading Assignments:
- Collins, P. H. (2000). Preface to the First and Second Edition and Chapter 1. The politics of Black feminist thought. In Black Feminist Thought. 2nd Edition.
- hooks, b. (1991). Theory as liberatory practice.
- Taylor, U. (1998). The historical evolution of Black feminist theory and praxis.
Suggested Readings:
- Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York: Routledge.
- Walker, Alice (1983). In search of our mothers' gardens: womanist prose. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11: 59pm on 2/7)
Sign up for Session Facilitation.
WEEK 3 (2/14)
Topic(s): Black Women and Motherhood / The Need for Motherwork in the Schoolhouse
Theme Song: Sadie
Reading Assignments:
- Collins, P. H. (1994). Shifting the center: Race, class, feminist theorizing about motherhood.
- O’Reilly, A. (2004). Chapter 1: A politics of the heart
- Shujaa, M. J. (1993). Education and schooling: You can have one without the other.
Suggested Readings:
- O’Reilly, A. (2004). Toni Morrison and motherhood: A politics of the heart.
- Woodson, C. G. (1933 / 2005). The mis-education of the Negro. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 2/14)
*Learning Journal #1 is due on (or before) Saturday, February 19th at midnight.*
WEEK 4 (2/21) – No class due to President's Day
WEEK 5 (2/28)
Topic(s): Black Education: The Foremothers
Zoom link for 2/28
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82873902908?pwd=VXVFSDBkeko0RWQ5ZklwV0xkQjVNdz09
Meeting ID: 828 7390 2908
Passcode: 931300
Theme Song: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Reading Assignments:
- Watson, T. N. & McClellan, P. (2020). The impact of Black women educational leaders on student achievement.
- Coppin, F. J. (1913). Reminiscences of school life and hints on teaching. [not in Drive, book]
- Bell, D. A. (1992). Faces at the bottom of the well: The permanence of racism. New York: Basic Books.
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 2/28)
WEEK 6 (3/7)
Topic(s): The Brown Decision: A Dream Deferred?
Theme Song: Strange Fruit
Oppressed people, whatever their level of formal education, have the ability to understand and interpret the world around them, to see the world for what it is, and move to transform it. – Ella Baker
Reading Assignments:
- Tillman, L. C. (2004). (Un)Intended consequences? The impact of the Brown v. Board of Education decision on the employment status of Black educators.
- Ladson-Billings, G. (2004). Landing on the wrong note: The price we paid for Brown.
- Patterson, J. (2001). Brown v. Board of Education: A civil rights milestone and its troubled legacy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 3/7)
WEEK 7 (3/14)
Topic(s): Harlem's Motherwork Post-Brown
Theme Song: Everything is Everything
There is something so valuable about what happened when one became a mother. – Toni Morrison
Reading Assignments:
- Jeffries, H. K. & Jones, P. D. (2012). Desegregating New York: The case of the “Harlem Nine.”
- Lewer, B. (2019). Chapter 12. Pursuing “real power to parents”: Babette Edwards’s activism from community control to charter schools. In Educating Harlem: A Century of Schooling and Resistance in a Black Community.
- Watson, T. N. (2020). Harlem’s motherwork post-Brown: Implications for urban school leaders.
Suggested Readings:
- Coleman, J. S., Campbell, E. Q., Hobson, C. J., McPartland, J., Mood, A. M., Weinfeld, F. D., & York, R. L. Equality of educational opportunity, 2 volumes. (OE-38001; Superintendent of Documents Catalog No. FS 5.238:38001). Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1966.
- Erickson, A. T. & Morrell, E. (2019). Educating Harlem: A Century of Schooling and Resistance in a Black Community.
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 3/14)
WEEK 8 (3/21)
Topic(s): Motherwork in the Schoolhouse
Theme Song: Young Gifted and Black
The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. – Audre Lorde
Reading Assignments:
- Frederick, R. M. & View, J. L. (2009). Facing the rising sun: A history of Black educators.
- Wilson, C. (2014). Starting the bandwagon: A historiography of African American mothers leadership during voluntary school desegregation, 1954-1971.
- Lomotey, K. (2019). Research on the leadership of Black women principals: Implications for Black students.
- Siddle Walker, V. (1996). Their highest potential: An African American school community in the segregated south. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 3/21)
*Learning Journal #2 is due on (or before) Saturday, Match 26th at midnight.*
WEEK 9 (3/28)
Topic(s): Portraiture as Methodology
Theme Song: No Ordinary Love
For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it.
Reading Assignments:
- Dixson, A.D., Chapman, T.K., & Hill, D.A. (2005). Research as an aesthetic process: extending the portraiture methodology.
- Chapman, T.K. (2007). Classroom relationships and events: Using portraiture and critical race theory in education research.
- Dixson, A.D. (2005). Extending the metaphor: Notions of jazz in portraiture.
- Chapman, T.K. (2005). Expressions of “voice” in portraiture.
Suggested Readings:
- Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (1983). The good high school: Portraits of character and culture. Basic Books.
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 3/28)
WEEK 10 (4/4)
Topic(s): Portraiture / Writer's Workshop with Carole Saltz
Reading Assignments:
- Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (2005). Reflections on portraiture: A dialogue between art and science.
- Dr. Watson's piece on Babette Edwards: https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/a-love-letter-to-babette-edwards-harlems-othermother
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 4/4)
WEEK 11 (4/11)
Topic(s): Afrofuturism
Theme Song: Don't Cha Know by Erykah Badu
Reading Assignments:
- Holbert, N., Dando, M., & Correa, I. (2020). Afrofuturism as critical constructionist design: building futures from the past and present. Learning, Media & Technology, 45(4), 328–344.
- Grue, M. N. P. (2020). An Afrofuturistic Vehicle for Literacy Instruction. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 50(1), 33–44.
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 4/11)
*Working draft of portrait / profile (500-750 words) is due on (or before) Saturday, April 16th at midnight.*
WEEK 12 (4/18): Spring Break; No class
WEEK 13 (4/25) In person
Topic(s): Abolition and Education
Theme Song: Free Your Mind
Reading Assignments:
- Kaba, M. (2020). So You're Thinking About Becoming an Abolitionist. Medium, October, 30, 2020.
- Rodríguez, D. (2010). The disorientation of the teaching act: Abolition as pedagogical position. Radical Teacher: A Socialist, Feminist and Anti-Racist Journal on the Theory and Practice of Teaching, 1(88), 7-19.
- Love, B. L. (2017). Difficult knowledge: When a Black feminist educator was too afraid to# SayHerName. English Education, 49(2), 197.
- Kaba, M. (2021). We do this' til we free us: Abolitionist organizing and transforming justice. Haymarket Books.
- Love, B. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press.
WEEK 14 (5/2) In person
Topic(s): Ways of Knowing
Theme Song: Redemption Song
Guest Speaker: Valerie Kinloch
Reading Assignments:
- Kinloch, V. (2017). “‘You Ain’t Making Me Write’: Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies and Black Youths’ Performances of Resistance”. In D. Paris & H. S. Alim (Eds.), Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. (pp. 25–39). Teachers College Press. Transforming Education.
- Kinloch, V. (2021, July). Transforming Education [Video]. TEDx University of Pittsburgh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbJ0yrMeuYY
- Teichman, M. (Host). Elucidations. (2017, January 14). Kristie Dotson Discusses Epistemic Oppression (No. 92) [Audio podcast episode]. In Elucidations. University of Chicago. https://shows.acast.com/elucidations/episodes/587a2e9988d80d2d4a1f77e9
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 5/2)
WEEK 15 (5/9) In person
Topic(s): Linguistic Justice
Theme audio: Jamila Lyiscott – 3 Ways to Speak English
Guest Speaker: April Baker-Bell
Reading Assignments:
- Ladson-Billings, G. (2017). “The (R)Evolution Will Not Be Standardized: Teacher Education, Hip Hop Pedagogy, and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 2.0”. In D. Paris & H. S. Alim (Eds.), Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. (pp. 141–156). Teachers College Press.
- Baker-Bell, A. (2019). Dismantling anti-black linguistic racism in English language arts classrooms: Toward an anti-racist black language pedagogy. Theory Into Practice, 59(1), 8–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2019.1665415
- Baker-Bell, A. (2020). Linguistic Justice (NCTE-Routledge Research Series) (1st ed.). Routledge.
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 5/9)
Final portraits due by Sunday, May 15th by noon.
WEEK 16 (5/16) In person
Topic(s): Gallery Walk (Presentation of Final Portraits)
Theme Song: We Are Family
Reading Assignments:
- NONE
Weekly Feedback Form (due by 11:59pm on 5/16)
WEEK 17 (5/23) In person
Topic(s): Final Class Meeting.
Reading Assignments:
- NONE