When a Black man is in the principal’s office: Black male leaders navigating racialized spaces

Abstract

This study describes the experiences of fourteen Black male principals or heads of school navigating racialized spaces, including the politics of race, and experienced racism in educational settings as well as in school leadership. Data analysis utilized a critical race theory (CRT) and culturally sensitive methodological and interpretive framework. The data analysis revealed themes associated with identity scrutiny, right to lead, meritocracy and color evasiveness, all falling within the white gaze paradigm. However, the results also suggest a demonstrable pathway for Black leaders to successfully navigate the pitfalls of the white gaze and experienced negative professional and personal reactions to this phenomenon. This self-developmental journey is marked by increasing self-awareness, self-efficacy and a growing Black identity. A developmental model is proposed which could be deployed to coach and develop these school building-level leaders and accelerate the learning curve. Thus improving leader’s sense of positive well-being, leadership impact, while decreasing retention risks.

Keywords:

• Educational leadership
• black male school leadership
• race and equity
• critical race theory
• humanizing approaches

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 Subgroup-level Findings (key):.

I = Initiates – individuals with less than 3 years leadership experience.

W = Warriors – individuals with 4 to 9 years leadership experience.

E = individuals with 10 or more years leadership experience.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Phillip A. Smith

Phillip A. Smith, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy (ELAP) within the Graduate School of Education (GSE) at Fordham University, New York. Smith examines a phenomenon of Black male educational leadership, towards improving diversity and representation across the leadership workforce. His research and work aim to develop a conceptual framework and model for Black educational leadership, and Black leadership epistemology. It is located in a theory of knowledge grounded in the social and historical context of the Black experience, Black intellectual thought, theology, faith and spirituality, African-centered philosophies, community and social justice leadership. Smith’s work on Black male school leaders in the U.S., U.K., and the Caribbean, and on critical educational leadership has been published in several journals and book chapters. Professionally, he has worked across the range of education: early years – secondary (PK-12) education, community, higher, and adult education both in the U.K., and the U.S. Dr Smith has a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, from Columbia University, New York, USA; a MBA (with distinction) from Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK; and a MA in Education Leadership (with distinction) from the Institute of Education, University College London, UK.