In a Classroom of Their Own: The Intersection of Race and Feminist Politics in All-Black Male Schools (Dissident Feminisms)

Many supporters of all-black male schools (ABMS) argue that they reduce black boys’ exposure to racist, “overly” feminized teachers. In casting black boys as victims of intersecting racial and gendered oppression, these supporters -- many of whom are black males -- demand an end to racism in the classroom and do so on the sexist assumption that women teachers are emasculating. This rationale for ABMS raises two questions that feminist theory has lost sight of. Why do oppressed groups articulate their experience in ways that challenge and reproduce inequality? Is it possible to build emancipatory political coalitions among groups who make such claims? This book answers these questions by articulating a new politics of experience. It begins by demonstrating that intersectionality is a politically fluid rather than an always feminist analytical framework. It also reveals a dialectical reality in which groups’ experiential claims rest on harmful assumptions and foster emancipatory demands. This book concludes that black male supporters of single-gender schools for black boys can build worthwhile coalitions around this complex reality when they interrogate their own as well as their critics’ assumptions and demands. Doing so enables these supporters to engage in educational advocacy that recognizes the value of public schools while criticizing the quality of such schools available to black boys and black girls. Many advocates of all-black male schools (ABMSs) argue that these institutions counter black boys' racist emasculation in white, "overly" female classrooms. This argument challenges racism and perpetuates antifeminism. Keisha Lindsay explains the complex politics of ABMSs by situating these schools within broader efforts at neoliberal education reform and within specific conversations about both "endangered" black males and a "boy crisis" in education. Lindsay also demonstrates that intersectionality, long considered feminist, is in fact a politically fluid framework. As such, it represents a potent tool for advancing many political agendas, including those of ABMSs supporters who champion antiracist education for black boys while obscuring black girls' own race and gender-based oppression in school. Finally, Lindsay theorizes a particular means by which black men and other groups can form antiracist and feminist coalitions even when they make claims about their experiences that threaten bridge building. The way forward, Lindsay shows, allows disadvantaged groups to navigate the racial and gendered politics that divide them in pursuit of productive—and progressive—solutions. Far-thinking and boldly argued, In a Classroom of Their Own explores the dilemmas faced by professionals and parents in search of equitable schooling for all students—black boys and otherwise. | Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: A Separate Class of Boys Chapter 1. Choice, Crisis, and Urban Endangerment Chapter 2. Antiracist, Antifeminist Intersectionality Chapter 3. The Double Dialectic between Experience and Politics Chapter 4. Building Progressive Coalitions around Experience-Based Politics Conclusion: A New Politics of Experience Appendix Notes References Index | Michael Harrington Book Award, New Political Science Caucus of the American Political Science Association, 2019 — New Political Science Caucus of the American Political Science Association | Keisha Lindsay is an associate professor of gender and women's studies and political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.