ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the majoritarian narrative of the “achievement gap” and black student underachievement in United States (US) education. A similar sentiment was presented in 1896 by US Supreme Court justice Henry Billings Brown in the historically significant Plessy v. Ferguson case, which codified the practice of “separate but equal” in American public life. The problem of an achievement gap, much less an opportunity gap or resource gap, cannot be properly framed, investigated, or “closed” without a substantive understanding of the role and function of race and racism in American society. During the era of school segregation, the black segregated school served as a “safe house” where students enjoyed caring yet demanding teachers who held high expectations for academic success, alongside parents, within a supportive community environment. Schools are not exempt from the negative stereotypes, media messages, and “propaganda” reinforcing the ideology of black inferiority in the United States.
