Young Black Children Research Articles

Chill Pills Panic: Legal Constructions of Play, Race, and the Policing of Care in California's Administrative Courts

AbstractUS legal‐administrative interpretations of children's play offer critical insight into the production of racial difference and reproduction of economic disparities under the aegis of the postwelfare state. This article analyzes ethnographic observations in an administrative court in Los Angeles and transcripts of childcare license revocation hearings for an African American home‐based early education provider serving working‐class families via welfare‐to‐work systems. As courtroom ethnography reveals, US postwelfare institutions view play through an ideological prism that enshrines White middle‐class patterns of consumption as normative. Tasked with an ill‐defined postwelfare state mandate of early intervention, street‐level bureaucrats not only assess young Black and Latinx children as continual future threats but also as vulnerable in the present to their guardians’ poor choices.[childhood, race, care, administrative courts, play, postwelfare state]

Linguistic artistry and flexibility in dual-language bilingual classrooms: young Black children’s language and literacy practices

ABSTRACT Drawing on translanguaging and raciolinguistics frameworks in an ethnographic case study, this article contextualizes how young Black American children engage in rich literacy practices to validate their cultural and linguistic identities in an elementary, two-way immersion bilingual program. Findings demonstrated that despite teachers’ perceived flexible linguistic spaces, Black American students mediated their verbal dexterities while resisting hegemonic whiteness norms in bilingual programs to create space for linguistic flexibility. The authors share implications for bilingual teachers who teach African American children and call for bilingual educators to reimagine a transformative space that moves from translanguaging policies to explicitly valuing the unique linguistic repertoires of Black children.

Teddy and Roosevelt

What does it mean to be a friend? What role do heroes play in forming our values and ethics? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Roosevelt is a young black child who is obsessed with the life and philosophies of President “Teddy” Roosevelt. He is new at the school and due to an issue with other students he is forced into the “Friends Group;” a social adjustment group for students the school have deemed at-risk. While in the group he meets Teddy, an overweight boy who has been in the group for years because he pulled an X-ACTO knife in art class on a fellow student who continued to bully him about his weight. The two misfit boys develop a friendship. Roosevelt teaches Teddy how to fight, as well as imparting bits of wit and wisdom from his hero, Teddy Roosevelt. Things go awry when they are caught swimming naked in Teddy’s pool. The school rumor mill spreads that they are gay. This leads to the school forcing the two boys to fight after school. Roosevelt decides that Teddy has more to lose and is less prepared to deal with the consequences of the altercation, so he allows himself to lose the fight. As Teddy Roosevelt said, “No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his body – to risk his well-being – to risk his life – in a great cause.”

AS CRIANÇAS PEQUENAS DA MANGUEIRA (RJ): CORPOREIDADE, TERRITÓRIO E A EDUCAÇÃO PARA AS RELAÇÕES RACIAIS DESDE A EDUCAÇÃO INFANTIL

This article is interested in demonstrating how the legal documents dealing with education for ethnic-racial relations, produced both from the political struggles of the black movement and through academic debates, reach young black children and collaborate in the fabrication of new practices in the daily life of an early childhood education institution in Mangueira, a black territory located in Rio de Janeiro (RJ). For this purpose, we analyzed the laws and documents that we believe to be the most important for guaranteeing the right to education for ethnic-racial relations since the daycarecenter, tailoring these analyzes to the presentation of the pedagogical work of a group of young children. We consider that it is possible, therefore, that the legislation collaborate so that the pedagogical actions for babies and young children are built from their references of their ethnic-racial belonging.

Preteen Suicides: Rare, Mysterious, and Devastating

Preteen Suicides: Rare, Mysterious, and Devastating

Envisioning Black space in environmental education for young children

ABSTRACT In this article, we bring attention to absences and deficit assumptions that continue to circulate in relation to environmental education for young Black children in North America. We focus our attention on tracing some of the ways in which racial innocence works to exclude and limit possibilities for young Black children’s learning. Our analysis includes making visible connections between racialized discourses of childhood innocence, antiblackness in schooling, ongoing settler colonialism, and dominant forms of environmental education for young children. In seeking otherwise possibilities for Black childhoods in environmental education contexts, we turn to Black speculative fiction as a creative and generative mode of imagining fugitive educational spaces for young Black children.

Mamie P. Clark’s denied research “thou hast the power” E.B. Browning

PurposeBlack women’s contributions to the struggle for educational equality and to the USA Civil Rights Movement have been deplorably under-examined and scarcely evident in educational literature. This historical, biographical account documents the life and challenges of one brilliant woman, Mamie Phipps Clark, PhD. The purpose of this paper is to consider how Mamie Phipps Clark encountered and connected with Thurgood Marshall to advance social justice and the historical outcomes in the Brown v. Board (1954) decision. More importantly, the ways in which young Black children perceived racial awareness and self-identity are examined, and the perniciously damaging effects frequently stated by children’s and their negatively held attitudes about skin color were revealed in her work (Clark and Clark, 1950).Design/methodology/approachThis historiography examines Dr Mamie Phipps Clark’s scholarship. Central to Brown v. Board of Education was Dr Mamie Phipps Clark’s research agenda. She contributed to the USA’s history in the pursuit of justice and equity for children. To adequately prepare social studies and civics educators and students, the unknown has to be realized. To embrace Clark’s accomplishments within the educational literature is to forge a vast path of knowledge about children’s identity, racial awareness and psychological well-being. She worked determinedly for just ideals for generations of children and women preparing the way for just educational integration.FindingsNevertheless, until women, and essentially Black women’s scholarship and civic contributions are valued as imperative to foundational educational, civic, social studies, history canons the entirety of history remains veiled. When women’s scholarship by which our country achieved civic ideals is fully accepted, multicultural educators for social justice and action will claim Mamie P. Clark’s merited inclusion in the social studies and educational canon. Without the position, knowledge and expertise of Judge Thurgood Marshall, the momentous 1954 movement toward educational equity and civic righteousness would not have occurred. It took his skill, but mostly his powerful Black maleness to bring about just passage of Brown v. Board. Further, without the influential testimony of Dr Kenneth Clark at Brown v. Board the crucial argument of the “pernicious effects of segregation” would have not influenced the court in the same fashion as that of a Black woman. In fact, in one account (Pohlman, 2005), Mamie, P. Clark’s work is not mentioned when referencing a court cases’ detailed circumstances of the doll studies. Interestingly, Dr Henry Garrett, Mamie’s racist doctoral advisor is mentioned in the preliminary Virginia segregation court case as a prominent witness in this integration case without note of Dr Mamie Phipps Clark.Practical implicationsHoward University’s motto, Veritas et Utilitas, Truth and Service was key to Charles Houston, Thurgood Marshall, Mamie P. Clark and Kenneth Clark’s moral code. They lived the possibility to intensify equitable, equal, and accessible education by enacting legal civil rights agency and action. Nevertheless, pending any woman scholar, essentially women civic scholars, Black women’s foundational social studies scholarship and contributions are wholly vital to our educational history and canons. It is only when women’s precedents are included into the literature by which our country achieved civic justice, then social studies educators and educational researchers may begin to achieve gender inclusive practice while transforming social studies scholarship to better all students’ worlds.Social implicationsDr Mamie Phipps Clark’s work endures, as does her history and advocacy for generations of children, especially children of color, as well as women scholars. Her equitable, historical place will be actualized as long as scholars continue to herald her scholarship and contributions to the civic and social studies canon of literature.Originality/valueDr Mamie Phipps Clark. Central to Brown v. Board of Education was Dr Mamie Phipps Clark’s scholarship. She contributed to the USA’s history in the pursuit of justice and equity for children. To adequately prepare social studies and civics educators and students, the unknown has to be realized. To embrace Clark’s accomplishments within the educational literature is to forge a vast path of knowledge about children’s identity, racial awareness and psychological well-being. She worked determinedly for ideals for generations of children and women preparing the way for educational integration.

The roles of vitamin D and dietary calcium in nutritional rickets

The etiology and pathogenesis of nutritional rickets are becoming progressively clearer. Vitamin D deficiency has generally been considered the major or only player in the pathogenesis of nutritional rickets. However, recent research into calcium deficiency has now provided clinicians with reasons to investigate and manage patients with nutritional rickets more appropriately.The important question when assessing cases of nutritional rickets is: “Is it calcium or vitamin D deficiency or both that play a major role in the pathogenesis of the disease?”The case presentation in this review highlights the risk factors, clinical presentation and pathophysiology of nutritional rickets in a young South African black child from a semi-urban area in Johannesburg, a city with abundant sunshine throughout the year.

The Generalization of Implicit Racial Bias to Young Black Boys: Automatic Stereotyping or Automatic Prejudice?

Although children typically elicit benevolence and care from adults, these protections are not afforded equally to children of all races: Implicit racial biases commonly directed toward Black adults appear to generalize to young Black children. In two experiments, we tested whether such effects reflect biases in semantic associations (i.e., automatic stereotyping), evaluative associations (i.e., automatic prejudice), or both. White participants categorized objects and words that varied in racial stereotypicality and valence after brief presentations of male faces that varied in race (Black, White) and age (adults, children). Results revealed consistent support for a general-stereotyping account: Seeing Black male faces, regardless of age, facilitated the identification of both negative and positive stereotypic stimuli. We also found some support for a prejudice account, as these same faces facilitated the identification of negative stimuli more generally. Process-dissociation-procedure analyses further re...

What should young Black children know about race? Parents of preschoolers, preparation for bias, and promoting egalitarianism

This qualitative study of 26 African American parents and caregivers of preschool children sought to address gaps in the current literature by exploring how the intersection of parents’ racism experiences and social class may play a role in race-related socialization during the early years. Analysis of narrative interviews revealed that egalitarianism surfaced as the most common content of racial socialization (ethnic-racial socialization) messages. We also found that preparation for bias emerged as qualitatively different for the working- and middle-class African Americans, however, and thus, we argue that the ways in which working- and middle-class African American parents of preschoolers made sense of their experiences with racism and discrimination were different and that this shaped their preparation for bias messages differently. To provide a contrast for illustrating this argument, we detail working- and middle-class participants’ use of egalitarianism messages in relationship to their stories about racism, proposing here that parents may have been attuning to their young children’s developmental stage when deciding which messages to promote.

Nonresident Fathers' Involvement with Young Black Children: A Replication and Extension of a Mediational Model

The study reported in this article used Fragile Families data to test a mediational model of the influences of nonresident black fathers' involvement with 492 low-income single mothers and their three-year-old children (time 3) on the mothers' psychological well-being and parenting adequacy and the children's socioemotional development at age 5 (time 5) as they prepared to enter elementary school. The findings generally replicated earlier research with a smaller sample. The results showed that nonresident biological fathers are important in the lives of young black children. The availability of social and instrumental support from fathers was associated with better psychological and parenting outcomes for mothers, which in turn predicted fewer child behavior problems at time 3. Fewer behavior problems at time 3 were associated with fewer such problems at time 5. The results provide significant support for interventions in programs aimed at reducing the adverse consequences of single parenting for young children in economically challenged black families.

Increased Suicide Rate in Young Black Children

Increased Suicide Rate in Young Black Children

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Early Childhood Obesity: Growth Trajectories in Body Mass Index.

The aims of this study are to describe growth trajectories in the body mass index (BMI) among the major racial and ethnic groups of US children and to identify predictors of children's BMI trajectories. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) was used to identify predictors of BMI growth trajectories, including child characteristics, maternal attributes, home practices related to diet and social behaviors, and family sociodemographic factors. Growth models, spanning 48 to 72months of age, were estimated with hierarchical linear modeling via STATA/Xtmixed methods. Approximately one-third of 4-year-old females and males were overweight and/or obese. African-American and Latino children displayed higher predicted mean BMI scores and differing mean BMI trajectories, compared with White children, adjusting for time-independent and time-dependent predictors. Several factors were significantly associated with lower mean BMI trajectories, including very low birth weight, higher maternal education level, residing in a two-parent household, and breastfeeding during infancy. Greater consumption of soda and fast food was associated with higher mean BMI growth. Soda consumption was a particularly strong predictor of mean BMI growth trajectory for young Black children. Neither the child's inactivity linked to television viewing nor fruit nor vegetable consumption was predictive of BMI growth for any racial/ethnic group. Significant racial and ethnic differences are discernible in BMI trajectories among young children. Raising parents' and health practitioners' awareness of how fast food and sweetened-beverage consumption contributes to early obesity and growth in BMI-especially for Blacks and Latinos-could improve the health status of young children.

“A Narrative to the Colored Children in America”: Lelia Amos Pendleton, African American History Textbooks, and Challenging Personhood

Challenging the subpersonhood status of the Black race has been a primary purpose for African American historians and educators' writings of African American history (Brown, 2010; Mills, 1998). This writing agenda became more important as literacy rates of young Black children increased as they attended schools in great numbers after emancipation and into the new century. It has been well documented that mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century mainstream academic discourses (as well as popular culture) typically provided problematic constructions about African Americans' civility, morality, and intellectual capacity (Ernest, 2004; Gould, 1996; Hall, 2009; Woodson, 2000). These mainstream academic discourses were a part of an ongoing political that involved indoctrination and an ideological conditioning of African Americans to view themselves as fully human, not of equal worth, or as Charles Mills (1998) proclaimed: 'subpersons. ' Scholars have documented how these ideologies not only prevailed in the academy but were also reinscribed and constructed in primary and secondary school settings through social studies textbooks (Elson, 1964; Foster, 1999). What has been missing in the education literature, however, are thorough historical examinations of how school textbooks written by African American advocates, educators, and historians responded and repudiated the racialization of African Americans.Therefore, this article attends to the absence of relevant research by examining the textbook, A Narrative of the Negro (1971), written by a little-known and under-researched African American female public school teacher and clubwoman-Leila Amos Pendleton. Her work was originally published in 1912 and is used to illustrate how African American educators during the early twentieth century used African American history textbooks to challenge traditional ideas of subpersonhood (Mills, 1998). Mills' notion of revisionist ontology is used to provide a theoretical understanding to how A Narrative of the Negro constructed African American history. This author argues that Pendleton did not simply write an additive or contributionist history (Patterson, 1971). Instead, she challenged the racist definitions of Blackness of the early twentieth century through what Mills (1998) stated as the multidimensional and broad descriptions of the epistemic, and characteristics of humanity. Analyzing Pendleton's textbook showcases how she and other Black educators of the early twentieth century constructed African American history (through text and images) to challenge the subpersonhood status and racial theories about African Americans.The textbook was examined using literary analysis as the primary methodology. This process involved* reading the literature,* noting the themes,* discussing the themes, and* supporting conclusions with examples (Alridge, 2006).A page-by-page reading of the textbook was conducted, noting important elements that carefully identified historical content and themes, including the choice of topics, people, images, and events that represented narrative (Prior, 2003). Then, this author identified chunks of texts and images from A Narrative of the Negro that represented common themes about how African American persons were constructed by grouping words and images into categories. Through this process, coding of the textbooks began based on the three aspects of the theoretical framework, which included focusing on the moral, epistemic, and somatic characteristics of personhood. Last, the themes were compared with the racial theories of mid-nineteenth and early twentieth textbooks. Therefore, the analysis goes beyond simply focusing on the textual representation of African Americans in her textbook. Instead, this process allowed one to understand the document in relation to its milieu or social context (McCulloch, 2004, p. 6). The analysis of Pendleton's textbook, A Narrative of the Negro, examined how she constructed African American history (through text and images) to challenge racial theories and notions of subpersonhood about African Americans. …

Trends in Invasive Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections

To describe trends in the incidence of invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in children during 2005-2010. We evaluated reports of invasive MRSA infections in pediatric patients identified from population-based surveillance during 2005-2010. Cases were defined as isolation of MRSA from a normally sterile site and classified on the basis of the setting of the positive culture and presence or absence of health care exposures. Estimated annual changes in incidence were determined by using regression models. National age- and race-specific incidences for 2010 were estimated by using US census data. A total of 876 pediatric cases were reported; 340 (39%) were among infants. Overall, 35% of cases were hospital-onset, 23% were health care-associated community-onset, and 42% were community-associated (CA). The incidence of invasive CA-MRSA infection per 100000 children increased from 1.1 in 2005 to 1.7 in 2010 (modeled yearly increase: 10.2%; 95% confidence interval: 2.7%-18.2%). No significant trends were observed for health care-associated community-onset and hospital-onset cases. Nationally, estimated invasive MRSA incidence in 2010 was higher among infants aged <90 days compared with older infants and children (43.9 vs 2.0 per 100000) and among black children compared with other races (6.7 vs 1.6 per 100000). Invasive MRSA infection in children disproportionately affects young infants and black children. In contrast to reports of declining incidence among adults, there were no significant reductions in health care-associated MRSA infections in children. Concurrently, the incidence of CA-MRSA infections has increased, underscoring the need for defining optimal strategies to prevent MRSA infections among children with and without health care exposures.

Determination, Dedication, Dynamism: An Interview with Diane Abbott

In 1987, the face of British political life was forever changed when Diane Abbott became the first black woman elected to the House of Commons. Key to her work is her unwavering belief in making things better for others through determined advocacy combined with projects of social justice. Her longevity in the world of politics is in itself striking, and her loyalty to people and to her strong principles has consolidated a distinguished career as a parliamentarian, broadcaster and commentator. In this interview, Ms Abbott reflects upon the importance of calling herself a feminist and voices concerns about the sexualization of girlhood, an area she has particularly made her focus recently alongside her long-standing activism for young people and black children's education.

Increasing Incidence of Type 1 Diabetes in Youth

OBJECTIVEThe purpose of this study was to describe the incidence of type 1 diabetes in children in Philadelphia from 2000–2004, compare the epidemiology to the previous three cohorts in the Philadelphia Pediatric Diabetes Registry, and, for the first time, describe the incidence of type 2 diabetes.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSDiabetes cases were obtained through a retrospective population-based registry. Hospital inpatient and outpatient records were reviewed for cases of type 1 and type 2 diabetes diagnosed from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2004. The secondary source of validation was the School District of Philadelphia. Time series analysis was used to evaluate the changing pattern of incidence over the 20-year period.RESULTSThe overall age-adjusted incidence rate in 2000–2004 of 17.0 per 100,000 per year was significantly higher than that of previous cohorts, with an average yearly increase of 1.5% and an average 5-year cohort increase of 7.8% (P = 0.025). The incidence in white children (19.2 per 100,000 per year) was 48% higher than in the previous cohort. Children aged 0–4 years had a 70% higher incidence (12.2 per 100,000 per year) than the original cohort; this increase was most marked in young black children. The overall age-adjusted incidence of type 2 diabetes was 5.8 per 100,000 per year and was significantly higher in black children.CONCLUSIONSThe incidence of type 1 diabetes is rising among children in Philadelphia. The incidence rate has increased by 29% since the 1985–1989 cohort. The most marked increases were among white children ages 10–14 years and black children ages 0–4 years. The incidence of type 1 diabetes is 18 times higher than that of type 2 in white children but only 1.6 times higher in black children.

Changing Epidemiology of Yersinia enterocolitica Infections: Markedly Decreased Rates in Young Black Children, Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), 1996–2009

Yersinia enterocolitica causes an estimated 116,716 illnesses annually in the United States. Black children have historically had the highest rates of infection, with incidence peaking in the winter. The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) conducts active surveillance for laboratory-confirmed Y. enterocolitica infections, defined as the isolation of Y. enterocolitica or unspeciated Yersinia from a human clinical specimen. We calculated the average annual crude incidence rate per 100,000 persons from 1996 through 2009 and described rates by age, race, and geographic site. To account for changes in the FoodNet catchment area, we used a negative binomial model to estimate statistical changes in incidence using the average annual incidence in 1996-1998 as the baseline. From 1996 through 2009, 2085 Y. enterocolitica infections were reported to FoodNet. The average annual crude incidence was 0.5 per 100,000 persons and was highest in blacks (0.9 per 100,000 persons). Over time, the rate in blacks declined from 3.9 to 0.4 per 100,000 persons. Declines among other racial groups were not as pronounced. The largest decline occurred in black children <5 years old (from 41.5 per 100,000 persons in 1996 to 3.5 per 100,000 persons in 2009). From 2007 through 2009, the highest rate of infection was in Asian children (5.1 per 100,000 persons). Compared with 1996-1998, the incidence in 2009 was 66% (95% confidence interval, 51%-77%) lower among children <5 years old. Y. enterocolitica infections in FoodNet sites have significantly declined since 1996. These declines were greatest in young black children, the group that initially had the highest incidence, possibly as the result of educational efforts in Georgia.

Young black children and science: Chronotopes of narratives around their science journals

AbstractWe explored 30 Black Kindergarten‐2nd grade students' spoken narratives around pages of their science journals that the children selected as best for showing them as scientists. Because in all narratives, space–time relationships play an important role not only in situating but also in constituting them, we focused on such relationships using Bakhtin's (1981) construct of chronotopes. Our chronotopical analysis aimed at fleshing out the temporal and spatial features that were present in the children's journal pages, and in the children's ways of talking both about these features and about being scientists. Our goal was to better understand ways in which African‐American children identify with science and scientists in particular contexts: an interview with an adult who had visited their class throughout that year and a class where they were offered various opportunities to engage with science. Using six cases that maximized the variety of understandings we could develop vis‐à‐vis our research question, we show how the children's narratives were filled with differing space–time relationships in which the children found ways to showcase their agency. Thus, we provide insights into how the children authored relationships with science and scientists, negotiated the past with the present and possible future, and contextualized their narratives within various time‐spaces that had meaning for them. Moreover, multiple people populated the children's chronotopes and became intertwined with the space–time relationships that underlined their conceptions of themselves vis‐à‐vis science and scientists. Despite the varied conceptions of science and scientists that the children portrayed, their narratives communicated a high level of confidence in being able to do science and be scientists, and initiative in learning. The children's narratives were filled with hope, “able‐ness,” knowledge, affect, and possibility. These findings point to several considerations for practice. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 568–596, 2012

Determinants of Influenza Vaccination Among Young Children in an Inner-City Community

Few studies have examined potential factors that contribute to low influenza vaccination rates among minority children. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of early childhood influenza vaccination among young black and Latino children, living in inner-city neighborhoods, and examine the effects of child, caregiver and health system factors. Secondary data analysis was performed using a survey about medical home experiences conducted from May 2007-June 2008. The study sample was limited to children ≥6 months in any influenza season prior to the 2006-2007 influenza season. Bivariate analyses and multivariable logistic regression tested associations between influenza vaccination receipt and socio-demographic and health system characteristics. One-third of children received an influenza vaccination by the end of 2006-2007 season, while only 11% received a vaccination within their first season of eligibility. Black children were more likely than Latino children to have been vaccinated (50% vs. 31%, P<0.01) during their first few eligible seasons. Children whose mothers were older, proficient in English, and frequent users of healthcare were more likely to obtain vaccination. Child attendance at healthcare settings with immunization reminder systems was also positively correlated with influenza vaccination. Our findings suggest that initial vaccination receipt among minority children from inner-city communities might be improved by expanded influenza promotion activities targeting younger mothers or those with limited English proficiency. Strategies to increase the frequency of child's actual contact with the medical home, such as reminder systems, may be useful in improving uptake of influenza vaccination among inner-city, minority children.