<em>Adolescent African American Girls as Engaged Readers: Challenging Stereotypical Images of Black Womanhood through Urban Fiction</em>

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONWhile employed previously as a middle school teacher, this author struggled to build connections between the interests of many of the adolescent African American girls and the compulsory classroom texts reflected within the curriculum. Some of the African American female students were largely disengaged from in-class readings. Relatedly, they also considered themselves, on balance, poor readers, incapable of comprehending the meaning of what they would dismissively characterize as real books, or texts promoted in class. Yet, they were reading urban fiction. In hopes of both fostering more meaningful classroom engagement on in-class texts and bolstering the reading confidence of my African American girls, this author sought to understand the appeal of urban fiction texts and explore methods for creating learning bridges between the genre and texts promoted within the curriculum.PURPOSENotwithstanding published findings regarding the poor reading outcomes for African American girls on nationally standardized tests (National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP, 2007, 2015), little research exists that probes the literacy experiences, habits and interests of members of this population (Buckley & Carter, 2005; Holcomb McCoy, 2005; Stevens, 1997; Sutherland, 2005); this study sought to address this gap in research. Based on the appeal of this genre for the African American adolescent female students, this study sought to* understand and catalogue the elements of urban fiction that served to inspire participants to read and engage with text and* more carefully consider how the participants interacted personally with those elements.This article will emphasize one major finding from the larger study (Gibson, 2009) that suggests that readers actively rather than passively engage with urban fiction specifically around the portrayal of African American women. Engagement with this genre presents an opportunity to1. create learning bridges between in-school and non- traditional texts and2. help heighten critical literacy for readers around stereotypic images of Blackness and womanhood.SIGNIFICANCEMany adults have formed intransigent and reductive outlooks about the urban fiction genre, based on the controversial content presented within the texts, without understanding the potential benefits of the novels. Despite containing hypersexualized, violent content and writing styles that are often inclusive of non-standard English, urban fiction texts are reaching many disengaged African American readers while more traditional forms of texts, in contrast, are failing to promote reading. This current study was built on the premise that strong out-of-school or non-dominant readings skills are needed to successfully navigate through and excel within schools (Delpit, 1988).Stereotypes about African American girls, such as the Sapphire, Jezebel, and Mammy, are reflective of the ways that society at large has exploited and pathologized their sexuality and intellect (Lindsey, 2013; Stephens & Phillips, 2003). Urban fiction often capitalizes on, and revels in, these stereotypes. Research supports connections between the prominence of these stereotypes and outcomes for African American females (Townsend, Thomas, Neilands, & Jackson, 2010). For instance, images of the Jezebel, or a Black woman who possesses an insatiable appetite to engage in sexual endeavors, are apparent within many representations of Black women in the media portrayals, including the abounding hypersexualized images perpetuated through certain subgenres of hip-hop music. Correspondingly, in an unfortunate example of life imitating depiction, 16% of African American adolescent girls will give birth by their 20th birthday (Health & Human Services, 2015). Additionally, the HIV rate for African American women is 20 times that of White woman and five times greater than Latino women (Centers for Disease Control, 2016). …