How Whiteness Fuels Anti-Blackness: Black Leaders’ Experiences in an Urban High School

Abstract

This article explores whiteness and how it manifests itself in an urban, Midwestern high school. This examination is done through counter-storytelling to unpack how Black women leaders navigate whiteness while simultaneously experiencing anti-Blackness within and outside a research-practice partnership. These counter-stories came from a larger research project on how school practitioners work towards anti-racism using an anti-racist policy decision-making protocol. Much research centers on the experiences of Black students in PK-12 education settings; however, there is an underwhelming amount of research that analyzes how anti-Black racism or anti-Blackness exists in educational leadership. Our findings reveal that Black women leaders negotiate whiteness through various strategies, encounter moments of anti-Blackness and witness it occurring among Black students within the school. Implications of this study illuminate the importance of counter-narratives in uncovering details otherwise unseen, as well as describe the ways counter-narratives moved the work within the research-practice partnerships forward.

Keywords:

• Anti-Blackness
• whiteness
• counter-storytelling
• research-practice partnership
• Black women leaders

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We capitalize Black throughout the article as we believe Black represents a racial identity group, and thus should be capitalized. The only instances where we do not capitalize the racial identity Black is if we reference a direct quote from the research literature that does not capitalize Black.

Additional information

Funding

The research reported in the article was made possible (in part) by a grant from the Spencer Foundation (#202200164). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Spencer Foundation. In addition, support for this research was provided by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of the Provost.

Notes on contributors

Deonte E. Iverson

Deonte E. Iverson is a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As an interdisciplinary scholar, he draws from educational policy, educational leadership, and special education to examine how special education policy and educator practices shape student experiences. In his current research, Deonte explores an administrative rule change regarding the eligibility criteria for emotional behavioral disabilities in Wisconsin. Further, his work aims to address long-standing historical inequities, such as racial disproportionality in special education, through policy innovation, research-practice partnerships, and capacity building.

Anjalé Welton

Anjalé Welton is the Rupple-Bascom Professor of Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her scholarship examines how educational leaders dialogue about and address race and racism in their school communities. Her research also considers the role of student and community voice, leadership, and activism in education reform and transformation. Some of her professional experiences include coordinating a leadership program for urban youth, a facilitator of an urban education teacher preparation program, and a teacher in large urban districts. She is committed to providing professional development for educational leaders on issues of race and equity. Currently she is involved in several research practice-partnerships where PK-12 educational leaders interrogate problems of practice around racial equity in their schools.

Sarah Diem

Sarah Diem is a professor and chair in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri. She is also a Faculty Affiliate in the Harry S. Truman School of Government and Public Affairs and the Qualitative Inquiry Program in the College of Education and Human Development. She researches the social, political, and geographic contexts of education, focusing primarily on how politics, leadership, and implementation of educational policies affect outcomes related to equity, opportunity, and racial diversity within public schools. She is also interested in the ways in which school leaders are addressing racism in their school communities. Dr. Diem received her Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Planning from The University of Texas at Austin. Her most recent co-authored book (with Anjalé D. Welton, University of Wisconsin–Madison), Anti-racist Educational Leadership and Policy: Addressing Racism in Public Education, challenges school leaders to question the racial implications of the policies they design and implement. The book received the Taylor and Francis “Outstanding New Textbook” Award in Behavioral Sciences and Education and the AESA Critics’ Choice Book Award.

Sarah Walters

Sarah Walters is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri. Her critical qualitative research is focused on PK12 policies and leadership practices that advance racial equity, inclusion, and integration. As a former Missouri public school teacher, educational leader, and scholar, Sarah centers connection, relationships, and compassion to cultivate more humane and meaningful schools, systems, and teaching/learning experiences. She currently serves as the Career Services Coordinator in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Missouri.