Hidden in Blackness

Hidden in Blackness analyzes the experiences, perspectives, and development of Black immigrant students, while also complicating how race, ethnicity, nativity, and nationality are understood across the P–20 education landscape. The authors unpack how Blackness and anti-Black racism in the United States can foster Black immigrants becoming hidden in Blackness in schools and education research—meaning their Black identity is homogenized into a U.S. construction of Blackness while their ethnicity, nationality, and nativity go unacknowledged or is weaponized to subjugate other people of Color. The book culminates by offering the Black Diasporic Illumination (BDI) framework with recommendations for supporting these students with a positive sense of self and abilities in the face of racial realities. BDI bridges sociocultural ecology, ethnic-racial identity and socialization scholarship, asset orientations, and critical constructions of race and racism into a transdisciplinary approach for understanding the experiences of Black immigrants in U.S. education.

Book Features:

• Spans the experiences and outcomes of both K–12 and higher education Black immigrant students to provide a more complete picture.
• Integrates a structural lens that considers the role of systemic racism, nativism, xenophobia, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy embedded within the educational experience.
• Amplifies the rich diversity that exists among Black communities and immigrant communities in the United States.
• Offers researchers, practitioners, and policymakers guidance for better supporting these students through awareness of their educational experiences, needs, challenges, and successes.
• Provides insights into the demographic diversity of Black immigrants (e.g., parental education level, nationality, ethnicity, English-language proficiency, and citizenship/ documentation status) and how these shape educational experiences and outcomes differently.

Chrystal A. George Mwangi, a transnational Black women scholar, is an associate professor of higher education at George Mason University. Adaurennaya “Ada” C. Onyewuenyi, a second-generation Nigerian of the Igbo tribe, is an associate professor of psychology, and affiliate faculty of African American studies at The College of New Jersey.

"​At a time when the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion and social justice are being debated, this book strikes at the heart of how these issues are both present and absent in the research narratives related to Black immigrant students. It addresses the challenges of using constructs and theories that often do not represent their educational experiences. By recommending alternative, non-U.S.-centric theories and models, (the authors) make an invaluable and much-appreciated contribution to the body of knowledge on Black immigrant students across the U.S. Pre-K–20 education system."
—From the Foreword by Janice B. Fournillier, professor, Georgia State University

“This deeply researched, student-centered volume fills a critical gap in the field and equips scholars and practitioners with essential insights for better seeing and serving the rich diversity of the Black immigrant student population from K–12 through college. A groundbreaking contribution!”
—Carola Suárez-Orozco, professor in residence, Harvard Graduate School of Education