Race‐ing through the school day: African American educators' experiences with race and racism in schools

Abstract

This article examines the ways African American educators experience themselves as raced individuals in their school settings and explores their perceptions of racial discrimination, subordination, and isolation. For this study, five African American educators participated in in‐depth phenomenological interviews. Qualitative data analysis of their stories revealed seven major thematic experiences: (1) hyper‐visibility/invisibility; (2) intersecting identities; (3) challenging assumptions; (4) challenges to authority; (5) pigeonholing; (6) presumptions of failure, and (7) coping fatigue. The study confirms several tenets of critical race theory including the assertion that racism is not aberrant, but endemic and permanent in American society, and routinely exists in public schools. The study further suggests that those most directly positioned to bring about necessary, concrete change aimed at addressing racial discrimination and prejudice in schools are building‐level administrators.

Keywords:

• critical race theory
• teachers
• African American

Notes

1. For the purposes of this study, racism is defined as, ‘a system of ignorance, exploitation, and power, grounded in a belief in the inherent superiority of one race over all others and thereby the right to dominate and oppress African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Americans, American Indians and other people on the basis of ethnicity, culture, mannerisms, and color’. This definition is a composite of those provided by Lorde (1992) and Marable (1992).

2. All participants are referred to by pseudonyms.

3. While microaggressions and demons certainly overlap, I see microaggressions as being less ‘situational’ than demons.