“Still I Rise”: a Black feminist teacher’s journey to (re)member her journey to teach

ABSTRACT

This critical autoethnography documents how the author navigated the dilemma of learning and teaching history as a racial queer. Through the use of narrative vignettes and reflection, the author examines how a woman of color social studies teacher educator (re)members the past as a way to inform her teaching of history? The first memory dealt with how public historical memory can be used as a weapon to maintain white supremacy. The second memory details how the author navigated the whiteness of teacher preparation and schools. The final memory documents how the author harnessed her cultural memories as a source of strength when teaching. Collectively, these narrative vignettes demonstrate the power of cultural memories and their potential to provide teachers of color with a source of strength within hostile school spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Black feminism
• social studies education
• autoethnography
• black women teachers

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank J.B. Mayo, Jr. for his insightful feedback and support throughout this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I intentionally capitalize the term ‘Communities of Color’ throughout this manuscript to use capitalization as a grammatical strategy to (re)claim power typically removed to describe historically marginalized communities.

2. ‘Lifting as we climb’ was the motto of National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.