Black women and girls are frequently left out of narratives on sexual harassment/sexual violence due to pervasive racism and sexism. Schools contribute to this silence by continuing to overlook the exceptional needs and experiences of Black girls. Therefore, this qualitative study used an intersectional lens to examine Black girls’ experiences with sexual harassment in an urban middle school. Results indicated participants experienced both physical and verbal sexual harassment and felt their concerns were largely ignored or/or minimized by teachers school administrators. Recommendations for creating safe spaces for Black girls in urban middle schools are provided.

African American male students face a multitude of challenges that may lead to poor academic and social outcomes at school. There is extensive research on the predictors of their problems, but far less on the factors that can lead to positive outcomes. To address this gap, this exploratory study asked two main questions. Does racial-ethnic identity and gender identity predict adolescent African American males’ prosocial behaviors, and if so, is this done jointly or independently? Using regression analysis, this study found racial public regard, gender public regard, and gender private regard positively predicted participants’ prosocial behaviors. In addition, racial public regard moderated the positive relationship between racial centrality and prosocial behaviors as well as the positive relationship between racial private regard and prosocial behaviors. Findings suggest critical conversations concerning race should be included in social-emotional learning initiatives for these students.

Scant research exists on adolescent thinking about sexual harassment (SH), and even less on Black adolescents’ thinking. We listened to Black students as they thought aloud about a hypothetical SH dilemma. Participants were 7th graders (N = 21, 10 girls, M = 13.2 years, SD = 2.9) who identified as Black or African American. We presented a hypothetical dilemma about a boy who continues to touch a girl despite her request to stop. Participants were asked to take the perspective of each character as well as their own as a bystander. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we identified patterns in responses and two themes. Black girls saw the event as a failed social transaction requiring relationship repair. Black boys saw the dilemma as individual risk taking that could result in punishment. We consider these themes within an intersectional framework and compare them to the more familiar gendered framework used in research. Our findings provide insight into how Black adolescents think about SH and suggest entry points for culturally responsive social and emotional learning (SEL) curricula.

This qualitative study examined how adolescent Black males (N = 12) talk about their identities, prosocial behaviors, and connections between them. Of special interest was whether and how the participants included their experiences of dehumanization. Focus group data were analyzed using modified analytic induction. Participants felt good about their racially gendered identities but felt they occupied a precarious position in the United States. Participants' beliefs about how others viewed them motivated restraint from engaging in too many prosocial acts to prevent appearing vulnerable. Participants explicitly referred to their experience of oppression in these discussions and its interaction with identity and prosociality. Results suggest research must consider how macro-level processes like racism influence the identities and prosocial behaviors of adolescent Black males.