<em>“Talking Back”: The Perceptions and Experiences of Black Girls Who Attend City High School</em>

Abstract

Iesha1 is a senior at City High School (CHS). She is petite, insightful, and full of laughter. While responding to the question, How would you describe this school? she looked at me thoughtfully and replied: To be honest, at first I hated this school. I smiled while nodding my head. I appreciated her candor. I knew that Iesha faced a unique set of challenges during her tenure at CHS as Black girls are overrepresented in discipline referrals and graduate at rates below their peers at CHS and in high schools throughout the nation (Crenshaw, Ocen, & Nanda, 2015; Morris, 2015; U. S. Department of Education, 2016; White House Council on Women and Girls, 2014). Not surprisingly, Black girls are stymied by many of the race-based policies and practices that impede the success of their male counterparts. Despite this fact, Black boys remain at the center of research efforts and national initiatives aimed to improve their educational outcomes (see Brooms, 2016; Noguera, 2014; Toldson & Lewis, 2012; Wright, 2011).It is important to note that my concern for young people, Black girls in particular, is palpable. I am a Black woman, mother of a Black girl, and an activist scholar. My research is centered on effective school leadership. I work with school leadership teams to strengthen school-community relationships in ways that support student success. Moreover, based on my own experiences, I am critical of how some school leaders view Black girls. They see them through a deficit lens- ignoring many of the positive attributes that serve to sustain them. Therefore, I was excited when I received parental consent forms from six Black girls at CHS to participate in my perception study. I wanted to honor the voices that are oftentimes silenced in schools and to employ standpoints that are seldom considered in education research.Accordingly, this study answers the following research question: What are the perceptions and experiences of Black Girls who attend City High School? Furthermore, the purpose of the study was to illuminate the realities of Black girls who attend CHS and to apply a Black Feminist Theory analysis (Collins, 2000) to the study's empirical findings. The results of this study were to inform school leaders of the distinct challenges that impact the experiences of Black girls. The ultimate aim of this study was to improve the schooling experiences of Black girls at CHS and in schools throughout the nation.THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKGloria Steinem, the former editor of Ms. Magazine (see www.msmagazine.com) proclaimed Black women to be the originators of the feminist movement (Tisdale, 2015). Ironically, the function of feminism was found to be obtuse for most Black women as it privileges Whiteness and fails to acknowledge the intersection of gender and race (Guy-Sheftall, 1986). In the groundbreaking text, Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, Collins (2000) recognized this rift and argued that Black women occupy a unique standpoint based on our own oppression.Black Feminist Theory is used to undergird this study because it centers Black women as creators of knowledge while providing a framework to contextualize and understand our nuanced realities. Collins (2000) delineated four tenets of Black Feminist Theory: (a) self-definition, (b) the lived experience, (c) the use of dialogue, and (d) personal accountability. Self-definition acknowledges the self (the Black woman) as a creator of Black womanhood and privileges the individual and collective Black woman's distinct reality. In the lived experience the realities and claims of the knower (Black women) is considered truth and is therefore not subject to 'White gaze. ' Meaning, our subjective reality is factual and should not be interrogated. The use of dialogue acknowledges the active participation of both the speaker and the listener in knowledge claims. Last, Black Feminist Theory places personal accountability (agency) on the knower. …