Resisting Antiblackness in Education

Centered on the vibrancy of Black culture, this book offers an antiracist pedagogical framework for engaging Black youth in educational and community settings.

Resisting Antiblackness in Education refuses the logics of antiblackness that permeate societal and educational structures and, instead, offers an antiracist counter-logic rooted in the aesthetics of Black youth—a historical and ongoing form of cultural expression and perception.

Blending Black studies with critical educational theory, the author offers both a reflective and practical guide to help educators, researchers, community workers, families, and activists engage with Black youth aesthetics. Through memoir, aesthetic history, cultural critique, and case studies from a decade of research, readers are introduced to a pedagogy born from the social, psychic, and material lives of Black urban youth. Going beyond theory, this book includes actions, activities, and reflection questions that can be implemented directly in K–12 classrooms and other educational contexts.

Resisting Antiblackness in Education is a call to embrace an educational approach that is both intellectually stimulating and practically grounded, a critical and creative catalyst in the fight for Black youth and communities everywhere.

Book Features:

• Offers a tangible antiracist pedagogical framework for engaging with Black youth in educational and community settings, including content unit designs, lesson plans, projects, school or community initiatives, family activities, and more.
• Blends research with personal narrative, along with aesthetic artifacts of youth (e.g., collages, poetry, paintings, clay sculptures, art, public service announcements) to contextualize the pedagogical theory.
• Connects to Black aesthetic history to give readers an immersive experience so they are better prepared to execute the pedagogy, including many prompts to engage in self-reflection throughout the text.
• Focuses on youth voice to empower students, and all those committed to uplifting students, by recognizing their agency and cultural contributions and challenging traditional models of education that prioritize one-directional knowledge dissemination.
• Provides a broad context of anti-Black oppression that highlights the United States but also discussing antiblackness globally, inviting readers to engage with the text from their unique vantage points.

Justin A. Coles is an associate professor of social justice education in the Department of Student Development at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the inaugural Director of Arts, Culture, and Political Engagements at the Center for Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research. Dr. Coles is a 2023 inductee into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College.

“Justin Coles is clear that a commitment to Blackness requires love and care. His challenge to educators and researchers is also clear: if you are serious about interrupting antiblackness in education, your refusal of white supremacy must be active and unflinching.”
—David Stovall, professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

“Justin Coles provides us with one of the best theoretical and moral examinations of antiblackness. For anyone seeking to understand the persistence and layers of antiblackness, this book is essential reading. Not only does Coles offer us clear definitions and useful frameworks, but he provides us with powerful ways of disrupting antiblackness with a pedagogy of love, literacy, and liberation. The power of this work cannot be overstated enough.”
—Tyrone C. Howard, Pritzker Family Endowed Chair in Education to Strengthen Children & Families, University of California, Los Angeles

“In a moment of extreme repression and suffering, Coles offers us a soul-nourishing text that powerfully combines theoretical interventions with deep explorations of the lived realities of antiblackness. This is a vital text for those who still aspire to dream freedom.”
—Brian Lozenski, professor and chair of educational studies, Macalester College

“This book reminds us that the aesthetics of Blackness is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. And when understood, it can be both a conceptual and practical guide for education. Dr. Coles exemplifies this and provides educators with the Black Love-Aesthetics Framework—an important framing that helps to advance pedagogies across educational spaces. Uniquely, each chapter concludes with drawing readers into these wonderful ‘aesthetic invitations’ where we are charged to think about self-reflective, inner work as well as pedagogical practice. This book is a beautiful gift of love to the world!”
—Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad, John Corbally Endowed Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture, University of Illinois Chicago

“In this groundbreaking work, Justin Coles draws on the power of Black Studies to ground us in the powerful interior worlds of Black urban youth as a site of educational transformation. The pages of this book will serve as a guiding force for educational researchers and practitioners searching for critical knowledge and tools to bridge theory with tangible practice in our journey toward liberating Black youth and their communities.”
—Jamila J. Lyiscott, author, poet, and public scholar

"In a society where antiblackness is ordinary, Coles reminds us that Blackness is rooted in love. He offers a powerful, personal narrative that highlights the beauty and richness of Black life, along with a vital analysis of the cultural and aesthetic dimensions of Blackness. He insightfully identifies ‘the Black death/life paradox’ that Black students grapple with in schools and society, and gives readers a gift: a beautiful constellation of pedagogical tools designed to disrupt antiblackness. These tools that Coles shares are instructive for all educators, affirming to Black life, and deeply necessary."
—Bianca J. Baldridge, associate professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education