The rediscovered classic: an unforgettable memoir by a trailblazing black woman in post-war London, introduced by Bernardine Evaristo ('I dare anyone to read it and not come away shocked, moved and entertained ... One of the unsung heroines of Black British literature.')

An oral history of black teachers that gives "valuable insight into a profession that for African Americans was second only to preaching" (Booklist).

This important, timely, and provocative book explores the recruitment and retention of Black female teachers in the United States. There are over 3 million public school teachers in the US, African American teachers only comprise approximately 8 percent of the workforce. Contributions consider the implicit nuances that these teachers experience.

It's another scary day at the Black Lagoon. . . . There's a new gym teacher transferring over from the junior high, and Hubie is worried. The junior high students say he's big, mean, and blows his whistle a lot. Will Hubie really have to run a lap around the world to pass Mr. Green's class? Will he be able to lift Mr. Green's pickup truck and climb up a rope while it's on fire?Hubie doesn't want to go to gym class anymore!

The field of education has been and will continue to be essential to the survival and sustainability of the Black community. Unfortunately, over the past five decades, two major trends have become clearly evident in the Black community: (a) the decline of the academic achievement levels of Black students and (b) the disappearance of Black teachers, particularly Black males. Today, of the 3.5 million teachers in America’s classrooms (AACTE, 2010) only 8% are Black teachers, and approximately 2% of these teachers are Black males (NCES, 2010). Over the past few decades, the Black teaching force in the U.S. has dropped significantly (Lewis, 2006; Lewis, Bonner, Byrd, & James, 2008; Milner & Howard, 2004), and this educational crisis shows no signs of ending in the near future. As the population of Black students in K-12 schools in the U. S. continue to rise—currently over 16% of students in America’s schools are Black (NCES, 2010)—there is an urgent need to increase the presence of Black educators. The overall purpose of this edited volume is to stimulate thought and discussion among diverse audiences (e.g., policymakers, practitioners, and educational researchers) who are concerned about the performance of Black students in our nation’s schools, and to provide evidence-based strategies to expand our nation’s pool of Black teachers. To this end, it is our hope that this book will contribute to the teacher education literature and will inform the teacher education policy and practice debate.

Since Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka in 1954, continued resistance to desegregation has resulted in additional racialized policies, ideologies, and practices related to deficit thinking. Efforts to resist desegregation coincided with efforts to destroy Black Career Educators through systemic racism, marginalization, and indicators that they were unsuitable, unlicensed, inexperienced, and barely qualified to instruct Black children. In the year 2020, the largest generation of Black Career Educators will retire and exit public schools thus removing the only advocates for the majority population, Black and Hispanic students. The complex and dominant resistance to Brown, the failure of desegregation and equality in public education for students of color, and the need to retain white supremacy is evident today as students of color disproportionately experience higher rates of expulsion, suspension, and disciplinary actions resulting from racialized policies that dismantle career opportunities related to the future of work and support the school-to-prison pipelines. After thirty-six years as a Black Career Educator, in both secondary and collegiate education environments, I share in living color the results from racialized education policies directed toward Black Career Educators and students of color. In addition, I address the social-psychological impact on both teachers and students of color - especially issues related to teacher victimization, mental health, and racial microaggressions.

Will I have a friend?: A little boy makes a friend on his first day of school.