Our systematic, unapologetic, and Black education-focused literature review sought to examine how educational researchers, Black teachers, and Black students describe and co-imagine educational policies that advance Black liberatory pedagogies and practices. Our work addresses a need in educational policy studies to shift paradigms and invites…

In the United States, schools and universities have too few Black male teachers. Although many factors contribute to this significant problem, one primary factor is the existing lack of Black male educators to serve as role models for Black male students. This literature review captures information from peer-reviewed research, public scholarship…

Historic and systemic anti-Black racism are rooted in political, economic, ontological, epistemological, and cultural foundations of Canadian society. The normativity of whiteness and white supremacy are prevalent in social work programs across Canada despite the profession's commitment to social justice and anti-oppressive practice. Advancing…

In the most recent edition of the Handbook of Reading Research, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas and colleagues (2020) identify the need to recontextualize critical literacy pedagogy and research in ways that center Black and Indigenous communities. Although critical literacy has a rich tradition in emancipatory work (e.g. Freire, 1996), Thomas et al. argue…

This literature review reports findings from 19 empirical studies on the experiences of African American teachers in PK-12 desegregated schools. The research questions were: What do we know about the experiences of African American teachers in desegregated PK-12 schools? What are the challenges African American teachers experience in desegregated…

Nationally, school districts and postsecondary institutions are developing and implementing a variety of initiatives to close the teacher diversity gap. Unfortunately, only 20% of teachers are from ethnic and racial backgrounds, yet schools educate majority-minority populations. More troubling, less than 2% of teachers are Black males. Overall,…

This article offers a critical review of the literature on how race played into the historical development of pedagogical progressivism in the late-19th and early-20th-century United States. While many historians have focused on the overt/covert racism inherent in much of progressive pedagogy as espoused by White educators, others have highlighted…

Researchers have long documented the need for increased representation of African American teachers in the United States teacher workforce. However, much of the resulting literature has been unsuccessful in eliciting change, as it does not explain "why" this need for increased representation persists. To address this gap, various…

Purpose: This study assessed the research productivity of African American faculty in the top 25 ranked schools of social work cited in the 2012 U.S. News and World Report. Method: Four citation metrics ("h"-index, "g"-index, age-weighted citation rate, and per author age-weighted citation rate) were examined. Results: Scholar…

Art educator Mary Godfrey was notably the first African American full-time faculty member hired at Penn State in 1957. In 2005, however, the extent of Penn State's archival records on Godfrey consisted of one index card in the Special Collections' card catalog that read "Godfrey, Mary E.: Retires after 22 yrs of service." In this…

Considerable research has examined the positive educational experiences of students of color assigned to teachers of the same race or ethnicity. Underlying this research is the belief that the cultural fit between students and teachers has the potential to improve a child's academic and nonacademic performance in school. This comprehensive review…

Kimberlé Crenshaw's scholarship on Black women has been the springboard for numerous education studies in which researchers use intersectionality as a theoretical framework; however, few have considered the possibilities of intersectionality as a methodological tool. In this literature synthesis, the authors (a) examined studies about Black women…

Black female faculty (BFF) automatically face a number of (un)conscience struggles as they enter into the academy as junior faculty. As a result, there is often a sense of burnout and overcompensation to mitigate the oppressive experiences related to race and gender. This article conceptualizes a thorough review of the literature of the struggle…

This research explores the historical development of African American teacher and principal hiring and placement in Columbus, Ohio, from 1940 to 1980. In 1909, the Columbus Board of Education established Champion Avenue School creating a de facto segregated school to educate the majority of African American children and to employ Black educators.…

This literature review provides an overview of the research on Grow Your Own (GYO) educator programs as a strategy for states and district to employ to help recruit and retain teachers of color. It emphasizes equitable approaches and critical perspectives that combine the powerful roles of "homegrown" teachers, culturally-relevant…