Anti-Blackness at School

While schools often are framed as places of neutrality and fairness, many American schools have harmed Black children or been silent in the face of their struggles, under-education, and mistreatment. While there are undoubtedly adults in these spaces who support Black children, many others ignore Black families, minimize students’ concerns, and believe that colorblindness will solve the problem of inequity in education. Embedded in everyday realities, the authors outline the many ways anti-Blackness shows up in schools. Drawing on more than 44 years of equity work, they provide concrete, doable, and meaningful ways in which teachers and administrators can create Black-affirming spaces. Written for pre- and in-service teachers and others working with Black children and youth, Anti-Blackness at School explores both the scope of anti-Blackness and how teachers can reject racism.

Book Features:

• Provides interracial perspectives from authors Joi Spencer, a Black woman from California, and Kerri Ullucci, a White woman from Rhode Island.
• Uses case studies, activities, lessons, and techniques to talk about anti-Blackness, inventory its presence, and take steps to address the harm caused by it.
• Calls out how school policies, programs, belief systems, and customs are particularly hostile to Black youth.
• Explains why diversity work is not synonymous with antiracist work, offering a model focused on justice and equity.
• Directs practitioners to easily accessible resources that will allow them to challenge racism and uplift Black youth in their care.

Joi A. Spencer is professor of mathematics and incoming dean of the School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. Kerri Ullucci is an associate professor of education at Roger Williams University, Bristol, Rhode Island.

“If antiracism advocates are serious about eradicating racism, there needs to be an explicit and unapologetic focus on anti-Blackness. Spencer and Ullucci boldly lay out a blueprint based on theory, research, and solutions that offer us a path forward. Just as anti-Blackness is learned, it can and must be unlearned.”
—From the Foreword by Tyrone C. Howard, Pritzker Family Endowed Chair of Education, University of California, Los Angeles

“A book about co-constructing Black-affirming communities in schools, Spencer and Ullucci unapologetically call out anti-Black racism as a pernicious attempt to maintain white supremacy. Merging pedagogy, leadership, and policy, this is a resource-rich book showcasing exemplary practices designed to support educators in their work to create educational contexts where Black students actually desire and deserve to be. Pushing beyond broad diversity discourses, Spencer and Ullucci place Black youth and communities at the very center of their analysis as they make powerful recommendations for district, school, and classroom transformation.”
—H. Richard Milner IV, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair of Education, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University

“This book is a sobering reminder that the systems of White supremacy and anti-Blackness will adapt in whatever ways are necessary to maintain racial hierarchy and dehumanize Black people. It is also a strong reminder that we must tell necessary truths and be unflinching and unequivocal in our efforts to protect Black humanity.”
—Danny Bernard Martin, professor, University of Illinois at Chicago