ABSTRACT

Bringing together the voices of leading and emerging scholars, this volume highlights the many facets of Black girls’ literacies. As a comprehensive survey of the research, theories, and practices that highlight the literacies of Black girls and women in diverse spaces, the text addresses how sustaining and advancing their literacy achievement in and outside the classroom traverses the multiple dimensions of writing, comprehending literature, digital media, and community engagement. The Black Girls’ Literacies Framework lays a foundation for the understanding of Black girl epistemologies as multi-layered, nuanced, and complex.

The authors in this volume draw on their collective yet individual experiences as Black women scholars and teacher educators to share ways to transform the identity development of Black girls within and beyond official school contexts. Addressing historical and contemporary issues within the broader context of inclusive education, chapters highlight empowering pedagogies and practices. In between chapters, the book features four "Kitchen Table Talk" conversations among contributors and leading Black women scholars, representing the rich history of spaces where Black women come together to share experiences and assert their voices. A crucial resource for educators, researchers, professors, and graduate students in language and literacy education, this book offers readers a fuller vision of the roles of literacy and English educators in the work to undo educational wrongs against Black girls and women and to create inclusive spaces that acknowledge the legitimacy and value of Black girls’ literacies.

chapter |9 pages

Introduction

Centering Black Girls’ Ways of Knowing: Past, Present, and Future

section Section 1|53 pages

Creating Spaces for Black Girls’ Literacies

chapter 2|13 pages

“Our Stories are Uniquely Beautiful”

Black Girls’ Preamble Writing in Literacy Collectives

chapter 3|13 pages

Black Women and Girls Social Activism Tradition

Critical Media Literacy and the Black Girls’ Literacies Framework

chapter |7 pages

Kitchen Table Talks

Creating Spaces for Black Girls’ Literacies

section Section 2|55 pages

Black Girls’ Language and Literacy Practices

chapter 4|16 pages

Rooted Relations

Toward Black Girl Placemaking

chapter 5|15 pages

Black Girl to Black Girl

Gratitude Journaling as an Emancipatory Practice

chapter 6|15 pages

“There’s More Than One Way to Be Black”

The Literacy Experiences of Black African Immigrant Girls in the United States

chapter |7 pages

Kitchen Table Talks

Black Girls’ Language and Literacy Practices

section Section 3|58 pages

Reading Black Girlhood in Literature

chapter 7|19 pages

Black Girls Living Between

A Critical Examination of Liminality in The Hate U Give

chapter 8|11 pages

Black Girlhood Entangled

An Exploration of Nature, Magic and Community in Jewell Parker Rhodes’ Bayou Magic

chapter 9|17 pages

Beyond the Problem

Afrofuturism as an Alternative to Realistic Fiction About Black Girls

section Section 4|66 pages

Centering Black Girls’ Digital Literacies

chapter 10|19 pages

Urban Young Adolescent Black Girls’ Digital Media Practices

Humanizing the Digital Experience

chapter 12|21 pages

A Digital Mismatch

Adolescent Black Girls’ Perceptions of the Usefulness of Digital Tools

chapter |6 pages

Kitchen Table Talks

Digital Literacies and Black Girlhood