Black School Closings Aren’t New: Historically Contextualizing Contemporary School Closings and Black Community Resistance

Abstract

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.