38 Du Bois Scholars Program Literacy and the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Black Girls

Authors:

A Nyah Williams, Irvin Leon Scott, Bianca J. Baldridge

Date Created:

2025-01-01

Course Title:

Professor:

Not specified

About Paper:

Black girls in U.S. schools occupy a hyper-policed liminal space, for their relevance to language, identity, and discipline. This their identities routinely misjudged through dominant educational research synthesizes interdisciplinary literature from education, norms that valorize white, middle-class patriarchy. Data reveals Black girlhood studies, and raciolinguistics to examine how Black stark disparities: Black girls face suspension/expulsion rates girls’ language is surveilled. Key preliminary findings indicate: up to 5x higher than white female peers, often for subjective linguistic policing targets Black girls’ expressions; silence as “disruptive” infractions rooted in teachers’ and administrators’ resistance (strategy used for protection and compliance) is also racialized/gendered biases — not objective behavioral criteria. criminalized. This research explores how linguistic expression This punitive discipline reinforces broader systems of racialized becomes a site of control and resistance in black girls’ educational surveillance and positions schools as sites that replicate injustice.experience, revealing that this issue extends beyond literacy, My project interrogates the vilification of Black girls’ linguistic and it reflects a systemic misrecognition of Black girlhood practices and advocates for the prioritization of culturally itself. My research shows that current scholarship advocates for sustaining pedagogies within educational discourse and practice. transformative solutions, including culturally relevant pedagogies (e.g., Hip-Hop-Based Education), digital literacies that center on This thematic literature review interrogates how criminalizing Black girls’ voices, anti-racist teacher preparation, intersectional Black girls’ language in schools contributes to the school-to- curriculum design, and the reconceptualization of literacy. prison pipeline. It further explores how African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and cultural expressions of Black Ultimately, reimagining educational spaces requires honoring girls are routinely delegitimized in academic spaces, where Black girls’ full humanity through intentional systemic change, dominant language ideologies marginalize their multiliteracies including pedagogical approaches that affirm their diverse and perpetuate exclusion and push-out. The study reviews 25 literacies and languages, benefiting all learners. peer-reviewed journal articles and 18 scholarly books selected

Abstract:

Black girls in U.S. schools occupy a hyper-policed liminal space, for their relevance to language, identity, and discipline. This their identities routinely misjudged through dominant educational research synthesizes interdisciplinary literature from education, norms that valorize white, middle-class patriarchy. Data reveals Black girlhood studies, and raciolinguistics to examine how Black stark disparities: Black girls face suspension/expulsion rates girls’ language is surveilled. Key preliminary findings indicate: up to 5x higher than white female peers, often for subjective linguistic policing targets Black girls’ expressions; silence as “disruptive” infractions rooted in teachers’ and administrators’ resistance (strategy used for protection and compliance) is also racialized/gendered biases — not objective behavioral criteria. criminalized. This research explores how linguistic expression This punitive discipline reinforces broader systems of racialized becomes a site of control and resistance in black girls’ educational surveillance and positions schools as sites that replicate injustice.experience, revealing that this issue extends beyond literacy, My project interrogates the vilification of Black girls’ linguistic and it reflects a systemic misrecognition of Black girlhood practices and advocates for the prioritization of culturally itself. My research shows that current scholarship advocates for sustaining pedagogies within educational discourse and practice. transformative solutions, including culturally relevant pedagogies (e.g., Hip-Hop-Based Education), digital literacies that center on This thematic literature review interrogates how criminalizing Black girls’ voices, anti-racist teacher preparation, intersectional Black girls’ language in schools contributes to the school-to- curriculum design, and the reconceptualization of literacy. prison pipeline. It further explores how African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and cultural expressions of Black Ultimately, reimagining educational spaces requires honoring girls are routinely delegitimized in academic spaces, where Black girls’ full humanity through intentional systemic change, dominant language ideologies marginalize their multiliteracies including pedagogical approaches that affirm their diverse and perpetuate exclusion and push-out. The study reviews 25 literacies and languages, benefiting all learners. peer-reviewed journal articles and 18 scholarly books selected

Source:

Harvard / Asia Thompson, Alyna Chien, Meredith Rosenthal / 2025

Topics:

black, girl, literacy, language, educational, space, linguistic, expression, pipeline, identity, discipline, routinely

Co-authors:

@anyahwilliams185 , @irvinleonscott186 , @biancajbaldridge178