Lays bare the harm Black women and girls are expected to overcome in order to receive an education in America. The book captures the routinely muffled voices and experiences of these students through storytelling, essays, letters, and poetry.

Contents (Tentative) Foreword v Adrienne Dixson Acknowledgments  vii Introduction  1 Danielle Apugo, Lynnette Mawhinney, and Afiya Mbilishaka PART I: Re(voicing) of Silence in Schools 1.  Out of the Box: C ountering the Silence of Black Girls With Memory-Work  9 Asia Thomas 2.  The Struggle for Black Girl Voice: A Story of Three Generations  20 Autumn A. Griffin 3.  Colors Outside the Lines: R ecollections and Reflections on Black Girlhood   32 Nefetaria Yates 4.  Telling and Re-Telling: Black Girls’ Stories Together   52 Brittney Miles and Ololade Akinboyede PART II: Black Feminine Bodies in School 5.  Curls, Coils, and Codes: An Examination of Black Girls’ H air as a Form of Expression and Resistance   61 Cierra Kaler-Jones 6.  I Am to Be Sexual, Not Sexualized: A Call to End the C umming-of-Age Miseducation of Black Girls in Schools   79 Taylor M. Tucker PART III: Embracing and Complicating #blackgirlmagic 7.  The Trouble With Black Girl Magic for Black Girls   99 Valerie N. Adams-Bass and Keisha L. Bentley-Edwards 8.  Black Girl Magic Is a Glorious Gift   118 Helena Donato-Sapp Conclusion. An Offering: T oward Building the Foundation of Liberatory Education  122 Danielle Apugo, Lynnette Mawhinney, and Afiya Mbilishaka About the Contributors  124 Index  128

“As Black women, we need to be reminded that we matter. These chapters help us remember and affirm that, even in the face of violence and erasure, we matter. . . . This book is a wonderful testament to the magical everydayness of the survival of Black women and girls.” —From the Foreword by Adrienne Dixson, professor of education policy, organization, and leadership, College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign