Black Girl Politics

Abstract

Despite the informed, culturally attuned, active, and robust nature in which Black girls enter into dialectical exchange with one another, their peers, and other adults in schools and communities, Black girls’ critical and political literacies are often minimalized and undervalued. In this paper, I discuss my engagement with two Black girls who participated in Black Girl Politics, a literacy collaborative and curricular intervention designed to explore Black girls’ theorizing about social and political ideas and social change. I outline the girls’ engagement with a multimodal policy project in which they reimagine how to better resource schools in ways that expand access to time and space for implementing activities that promote Black girl joy and wellbeing. This paper highlights how educational opportunities and curricular interventions for nurturing Black girls’ political consciousness can prepare them to be informed, active members of society, and empower them to challenge social practices compromising their sense of freedom and belonging.