Black girlhood is a complex and nuanced journey. Laden with social messaging about who we are, who we are not, and who we should become, Black girls spend a great deal of time learning and unlearning bias narratives. As intrinsically intersectional beings, our existence provides a filter for how we see ourselves and the world around us. Similarly, in school, our experiences are punctuated by lessons that extend beyond multiplication tables and book reports. Consequently, these formative spaces often allow us to discover what it means to be Black - what it means to be female - and what it means to be both. Inspired by the archetypes of Nina Simone’s 1966 jazz classic “Four Women” – Aunt Sarah, Saffronia, Sweet Thing, and Peaches, this interview project retrospectively explores the K-12 schooling experiences of Black women (20 total) to provide a nuanced view of Black female identity development, notions of radical self-love, and insight into the alchemy of Black Girl Magic (Thomas, 2015; Wilson, 2016). Moreover, these reflections serve as a lens through which we can interrogate racial and gender stereotypes, systems of power, and dominant cultural norms.
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