Unapologetic Educational Research: Addressing Anti-Blackness, Racism and White Supremacy

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Guest Ohio State Alum Dr. April L. Peters-Hawkins, University of Houston

After receiving her doctorate, April Peters-Hawkins, ’02 MA, ’03 PhD, became immersed in the challenges faced by Black, female leaders by becoming a high school principal in Baltimore. Now, she is associate chair of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Houston, and will be the third speaker in the series.

“When I transitioned into academia, I was really interested in investigating the experiences of Black women in urban settings, high school principals mostly,” she said. “What I learned is that oftentimes they inherited the worst of the worst schools. There were more significant challenges for certain women.”

That dynamic and the implicit bias toward Black, female school leaders became a research focus. She recalls experiencing anti-blackness when visitors assumed a white, male colleague was the principal instead of her.

“It’s really interesting to me how whiteness is read as authority,” she said. “I could be standing there with a walkie talkie, a handful of keys and a suit, and yet be overlooked as the principal.

I know of many other Black women that happened to, based on my research.”

That lived experience generates passion that is invaluable for research, her presentation will show.

“There are people for whom their existence in this country — and in many places — is heavy,” she said. “How do we use our research to be emancipatory and informative, so that we can start to chisel away at some of the structural oppression that exists?”

Dismantling racism is a significant challenge, Peters-Hawkins said. “But there are things that scholars can do to engage in these efforts. I think research that is emancipatory and transparent is one way to do that.”

RSVP for the workshop with the CLSE here as well as at the event webpage linked above. 

 

Following the workshop, email Erica Szeyller.1 to confirm your attendance for the full event time. If you were not able to attend the full event, email Erica Szeyller.1 to discuss the possibility of 5001 course points.