African American Homeschooling as Racial Protectionism

Abstract

Academic interest in homeschooling has increased over the past decade, as what was once perceived as a marginal development has, in fact, turned into a significant and growing phenomenon. There has been, in recent years, a noticeable surge in African American involvement in the homeschooling movement as well. However, there continues to be a general paucity of research on the motivations of homeschooling Black parents. It is the purpose of this article, using an Afrocentric lens, (a) to explore one of the main reasons African Americans increasingly choose to educate their children at home, namely, their strong desire to protect their children from the ill effects of school-related racism; (b) to provide a historical and philosophical contextualization of the African American experience with racism in schools; and (c) to present empirical evidence regarding African American motivations for homeschooling.

African American Homeschool Parents’ Motivations for Homeschooling and Their Black Children’s Academic Achievement

“…Apple (2000) and Lubienski (2000), for example, associate the choice to homeschool with selfishness on the part of parents. Scholars have found, however, that Black homeschool parents are highly motivated to proactively seek out and construct the best education possible for their children, for their children's sake (Fields-Smith & Kisura, 2013;Fields-Smith & Williams, 2009;Mazama & Lundy, 2012, 2013a, 2013bTaylor, 2005). There is still relatively little known about homeschooling by Black families.…”

“…Also, the Black homeschooling community is relatively new and has not had as much time to develop support infrastructure. Finally, I hypothesized that Black parents' reasons for homeschooling are similar to those of homeschool parents in general, except that they might mention shielding their children from racebased or racist behaviors in public schools (Fields-Smith & Kisura, 2013;Fields-Smith & Williams, 2009;Mazama & Lundy, 2012, 2013a, 2013b.…”

African American Homeschoolers: The Force of Faith and the Reality of Race in the Homeschooling Experience

“…These homeschoolers are often Black Nationalists and their experiences and concerns were addressed in a previous article. 21 African American Christian Homeschooling as Protectionism…”

Teacher bias in elementary school and the factors that aid it.

“…Similarly, many of the images that are shown of African American students in popular media, may signal to some white teachers, who have not had previous contact with African American students, that most African American students are potentially "trouble makers". Mazama and Lundy (2012) discuss this imagery of African Americans in terms of white teachers claiming colorblindness while either knowingly or unknowingly simultaneously assuming that African Americans share the traits of laziness, lack of intellect and are inherently drawn towards criminal acts. These shared beliefs that address how some of the white teachers can easily accept that their African American students are "troubled" and inadequately prepared to be educated.…”

“…White middle class values were considered the norm for the school setting along with a Eurocentric curriculum that continued to alienate African American students and not include them in many aspects of education and classroom life (Mazama and Lundy 2012).…”