ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the calls for more Black male teachers motivated study participants' entry into the teaching profession and informed their sense of purpose. While Bill's short-term goal repeated the call to attract more Black men into the profession, his long-term goal targeted the specter of Black male underachievement, with the hope that an increased number of Black male teachers would address that educational crisis. While White college peers congratulated Bill on his intentions to enter the teaching profession, it was Black family members and friends who emphasized the specific need for more Black male teachers. Wedding the legacies of Black teachers' race work and male teachers' re-masculinization of schooling, saviorist discourses on Black male teachers imagine men whose Black cultural sensibilities and hegemonic masculinity make them ideal pedagogues for Black youth, especially Black boys.
