The leaders of the Black Student Union (BSU) at Liberty High School share their school climate and culture survey with Ms. Nguyen, their Asian American principal. Black youth leaders reveal a hostile and unwelcoming climate in the form of anti-blackness for Black students at a school staffed with primarily white teachers. BSU students request to share their findings with the entire school staff. The question remains how Ms. Nguyen, a principal who has the aspirations of a social justice leader and the desire to incorporate the voices of marginalized groups at her school, navigates a challenging context where white teaching staff exhibit resistance to creating social change at Liberty High.

Anti-Blackness is global and present in every facet of society, including education. In this article, we examine the challenges Black girls encounter in schools throughout the United States. Guided by select research centered on Black women in their roles as mothers, activists and school leaders, we assert that sociologist Patricia Hill Collins’ concept of Motherwork should be an essential component in reframing the praxis of school leadership and in helping school leaders to rethink policies, practices, and ideologies that are anti-Black and antithetical to Blackness and Black girlhood. While most research aimed to improve the schooling experiences of Black children focuses on teacher and school leader (mis)perceptions and systemic racial biases, few studies build on the care and efficacy personified by Black women school leaders. We argue that the educational advocacy of Black women on behalf of Black children is vital to culturally responsive school leadership that combats anti-Blackness and honors Black girlhood. We conclude with implications for school leaders and those concerned with the educational experiences of Black children, namely Black girls.

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The impact of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) highlights familiar inequities across U.S. institutions that are integral to social well-being. While longing for a return to "normal" is expected in a time of unprecedented loss of human life and the relinquishing of routines and comforts, equity-minded individuals understand that "normal" has been and continues to be oppressive at its core. Interested in the ways that COVID-19 has disrupted the normalcy of oppression and inequity, and the possibilities for Black liberation in this new context, we sat with educators and asked them to consider the urgency and possibility of now in the context of ongoing racial uprisings, persistent anti-Blackness, and the global impact of COVID-19. This article focuses on the themes that emerged, commenting on the opportunities and challenges of Black liberatory practices, whiteness, self care, metacognition about practices, and culturally responsive-sustaining education. While the disproportionate impacts of everyday educational violence on Black students, educators, families, and communities continue to be overlooked, these educators offer hope and a way forward, one rooted in the humanizing love that CR-SE and Black liberatory practices offer.