Love Yourz: Developing Black Students’ Positive Racial Identities in ELA Classrooms

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to explore the ways that Black English Language Arts (ELA) teachers utilize their positive racial identities to engage Black students in developing their own racial identities. A significant body of educational scholarship has consistently proclaimed the importance of Black teachers in the lives of Black students. This assertion may have particular significance in the English Language Arts classroom. Through a self-evaluation questionnaire and artifacts, I found that Black teachers Love Yourz—that is, they love their Blackness and teach their students to Love Theirs, too. However, due to the smog of anti-Blackness, they are still in need of racial literacy development to continue to disrupt their own and their students’ internalized anti-Blackness.