In May of 2005, I set out on a mission to present at the MCTE Conference Duluth, Minnesota, in hopes of providing educators with strategies to empower young Black boys. As a 15 year educator, I have witnessed too many young, intelligent minds fall victim to illiteracy. Alfred Tatum, a leading scholar in Black male literacy achievement stated, “The problem of how to increase literacy achievement of African American males is embedded in social, cultural, and economic, and historical dynamics..Unfortunately, our academic institutions fail to consider the whole child, and this creates a chasm between school and student that leads to young Black boys falling through the cracks (Tatum, 2000).
Literacy Gap: Looking at Numbers
The achievement gap in America is well documented and many districts are working hard to close that gap. Looking closely at barriers that are impacting Black boys, comes research that should move us to urgency. The National Center for Education Statistics showed that Black males in grade 4 have the second lowest comprehension score (Wood, Summer & Jocius, Robin. 2013). In 2018, only 31% of Black students scored proficient on the MCA III Reading Comprehension tests in comparison to 65% for White students (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis) Another barrier to Black boys success in the classroom are the disproportionate rate in suspensions and expulsions. The expulsion rate for Black preschool boys is higher than the K-12 expulsion rate(LoCaslae, Crouch et al.,2007). Hip Hop is a global phenomenon and a genre of music that is listened to by folks of all walks of life that was largely created by Black men. According to Jenkins, (Jenkins, 2011) “In a field like Hip Hop, where written and verbal communication are the two primary forms of work production, the mind or intellect of the artist should be viewed as the very thing responsible…Hip Hop artists are writers, they are thinkers, they are intellectuals.” Amongst all those roadblocks, Black men and boys still continue to contribute greatly to society.
Strategies to Move Black Boys
The late, great children’s book author Walter Dean Meyers says, “I loved books and I loved reading, but I never, ever came across books which had my family in it, or people who looked like my family. They never had my Harlem neighborhood…I began to look at myself as being less valuable than the people I was reading about.” When students see themselves in text, it affirms their identity and allows them to connect more deeply. We also know that Black boys are likely to read more deeply and frequently if they have the opportunity to voluntarily select the texts they read (Husband, 2014a; Jenkins,2009; Johnson, 2019).
Critical literacy allows students to expand their thinking and discover beliefs, positions, and understandings while working collaboratively through issues coming from the text and to explore different opinions and beliefs (Wood, Summer & Jocius, Robin. 2013). For young Black males, creating a space where they feel supported and accepted is vital and reduces common pressures related to reading in the classroom (Davis, 2003). These critical conversations provide opportunities for students to “critically examine texts” and “challenge and inform one another’s ideologies (Musie, 2001). When young people are heard and have a voice, they are more likely to be engaged in the classroom.
Practical Applications for Teachers
- Critical literacy allows students to expand their thinking
- Provide culturally relevant texts and choice
- Believe and empower young Black boys to succeed
- Build community and authentic relationships with Black boys
Conclusion
Empowering Black boys in our schools requires us all, collectively and as a community to be reflective, flexible, and culturally relevant in our practices. By doing these things, we are telling Black boys that we see you, we hear you, and want to see your success. Black boys and males have and will continue to bring brilliance to our country and the world. Together, we can empower them to find their voices in our literary environments.
References
Boys and Young Men. (2021, March 25) https://www.health.state.mn.us. April 30th, 2024.
Ebe, A. E. (2010). Culturally Relevant Texts and Reading Assessment for English Language Learners. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 50 (3). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol50/iss3/5
Glenn E. Singleton & Curtis Linton, Courageous Conversations about Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools. 2006. pp.5865. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Grunewald, Rob. (2019, October 11).Minnesota’s Education Achievement Gaps. Federal Reserve Bank. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/policy/education-achievement-gaps
Kang, Grace & Husband, Terry. (2020). Identifying Promising Literacy Practices for Black Males in P-12 Classrooms: An Integrative Review. Journal of Language and Literacy Education.
Norris, Katherine & Lucas, Lisa & Prudhoe, C.. (2012). Examining critical literacy: Preparing preservice teachers to use critical literacy in the early childhood classroom. 19. 59-62.
Rashid, H. M. (2009). From brilliant baby to child placed at risk: The perilous path of African American boys in early childhood education. Journal of Negro Education, 78(3), 347–358.
Wood, Summer & Jocius, Robin. (2013). Combating “I Hate This Stupid Book!”: Black Males and Critical Literacy. The Reading Teacher. 66. 10.1002/trtr.1177
Jenkins, T. S. (2011). A Beautiful Mind: Black Male Intellectual Identity and Hip-Hop Culture. Journal of Black Studies, 42(8), 1231–1251. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41304582
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MEJ 