Taking Up Space: An Analysis of Educational Spaces for Black Girlhood

In the United States, Black girls frequently grapple with violence regarding their sociopolitical identities about gender and race (along with other intersections such as class, sexuality, ability, etc.). While this violence against Black girls can occur anywhere, it has a lasting and unique presence in the school system, where Black girls are deemed aggressive, disruptive, hypersexual, and deviant. In response, Black girl spaces, such as TeenTEE, are emerging as restorative and liberatory environments that generate autonomy and connection. TeenTEE functions as a 10-week after-school program created by Black women for young adolescent Black girls, where girls engage with curricula and activities regarding specific topics related to Black girlhood. In this study, I explore what is important to Black girls and what they learn in TeenTEE. Analyzing qualitative post-program focus group interview data from eight cohorts (N = 23; ages 11-14), this study explores Black girls' learning experiences in the program through a Culturally Responsive Social-Emotional Learning (CRSEL) framework. Drawing on coded themes created using thematic analysis, findings reveal that Black girls in TeenTEE learned from their peers as well as facilitators, created a multifaceted and interdisciplinary learning community amongst members, and found the TeenTEE program to be a comfortable and safe space for authentic self-expression. Results underscore the need to implement intersectionality as a guiding framework in Black girl spaces, utilizing CRSEL pedagogy, to create a space for the positive youth development of Black girls.