“Keep Walls Down Instead of Up”: Interrogating Writing/Making as a Vehicle for Black Girls’ Literacies

Cassie J Brownell

doi:10.3390/educsci10060159

Abstract

Drawing on data generated following the 2016 United States presidential election, in this article the author considers how a classroom makerspace made Black girls’ literacies visible in new ways. During a six-week integrated humanities unit in a third-grade public school classroom in the Midwestern U.S., four Black girls used making to create a space for themselves to collaboratively make sense of contemporary (im)migration issues. In the findings, the author provides two analytic snapshots to illustrate how the girls’ making exemplified the six components of the Black Girls’ Literacies Framework—an asset-oriented framing that highlights how Black girls’ literacies are (1) multiple, (2) connected to identities that are (3) historical, (4) collaborative, (5) intellectual, and (6) political/critical (Muhammad & Haddix, 2016). In closing, the author offers provocations for educational researchers and practitioners to consider, as they facilitate school-based opportunities for Black girls’ literacies to be made visible through making.

Highlights

Cassie: -and people are wanting to cross into the United States because they might . . . ?Ari: Because they might be in danger.Cassie: Oh, they might live in a dangerous place.Ari: Yeah, so, basically I’m saying, keep walls down instead of up
I examine their processes of writing/making and how they used writing/making to make a space for themselves in their classroom
Of the twenty-two children enrolled in her class during the 2016–2017 academic year, 6 children self-identified as white, 5 as Black/African American, 4 as mixed/bi-racial, 2 as Asian American, 1 as Asian, 1 as Latino, 1 as Mexican American, 1 as Mexican, and 1 as Muslim

Summary

Methods

Stemming from a larger study examining children’s composing in two classrooms, for the purposes of this paper, I zoom in on a collective of four Black girls. Situated nearby the university where I was a doctoral student, Community School J (CSJ) was the focal site for my graduate research as I engaged critical perspectives to consider how classrooms might become more inclusive spaces for children’s multiple cultural, linguistic, and modal ways of knowing [25,26,27,28,29]. Ms Honey—a white 34-year-old, U.S.-born woman—taught one of four third grade classes at CSJ. Of the twenty-two children enrolled in her class during the 2016–2017 academic year, 6 children self-identified as white, 5 as Black/African American, 4 as mixed/bi-racial, 2 as Asian American,

Results

Discussion

Conclusion