Whereas increased scholarly attention is focusing on contemporary school closings, noticeably absent is the placement of this scholarship within the historical context of Black people’s social experiences. This paradigm shift would reveal a much longer history that has had devastating consequences for Black people. In this article, we identify five waves of Black school closings and provide contemporary case studies that reveal an ongoing pattern resulting in the destabilization of Black communities across time and space. Despite persistent attacks on these institutions, our analyses capture Black people’s resistance and agency in maintaining their communities and schools. In addition to providing policy implications, we further suggest the term Black community-killing as a theoretical way of thinking about the consequences of school closings.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.