“We Have a Black Professor?” Rejecting African Americans as Disseminators of Knowledge

Abstract

Black students at predominantly Black institutions (PBIs) often do not perceive Black faculty as disseminators of knowledge. Instead, Black students view Black faculty through a racialized lens, ignoring their positionality as academic experts in positions of power. The purpose of this essay is to examine the troubling impact that this perception has on teaching and learning, to propose culturally relevant teaching as a way forward. First, a distinction must be made between PBIs and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Next, this rejection of Black academics is contextualized in social constructivism and the binary construction of race. Finally, internalized structures of oppression serve as the catalyst for this phenomenon.