The academic needs of African-American girls too often are not linked to their intersecting identities. These interlocked identities often go unseen, thus are rarely addressed in K-12 schools. Specifically, their identities are neglected in some of their English Language Arts classrooms through the sole use of hegemonic literary practices.…

Contemporary activists and scholars have framed how Black males are faced with constant policing and killing of Black bodies by White police officers (Coates, 2015) and how Black boys are being sent to punishment rooms in urban schools (Ferguson, 2000). Therefore it is not surprising that teaching in our politically and racially charged times can…