Never again left in prison cells: Black girl’s citizenship making in an era of anti-Black girlhoods

Abstract

ABSTRACT This sociohistorical analysis situates Black girls experiences in alternative schools as a fight for citizenship. In this era of what we call antiblack girlhoods we describe how Black girls are redefining citizenship, humanness, and freedom in schooling spaces where they have been ascribed an illegal status. We assert that schools operate as political economies that serve to oppress and marginalise Black girls who are placed in alternative schools that fail to provide the necessary academic and socioemotional support necessary for their matriculation. Given the percentages of Black girls who are removed from traditional schools, in this analysis, we bring to light Black female students’ experiential accounts in alternative settings. The article draws from Critical Race Feminism (CRF) and literature on antiblackness to examine the micropolitical economies of alternative schools, and how an era of antiblack girlhoods has structured their citizenship status.