Black Educational Leadership
From Silencing to Authenticity

This book explores Black educational leadership and the development of anti-racist, purpose-driven leadership identities. Recognizing that schools within the United States maintain racial disparities, the authors highlight Black leaders who transform school systems. With a focus on 13 leaders, this volume demonstrates how US schools exclude African American students and the impacts such exclusions have on Black school leaders. It clarifies parallel racism along the pathway to becoming teachers and school leaders, framing an educational pipeline designed to silence and mold educators into perpetrators of educational disparities. This book is designed for district administrators as well as faculty and students in Race and Ethnicity in Education, Urban Education, and Educational Leadership.

Foreword: Black Leadership in the Uncertain Time of Now; Chapter One: Black Leadership within Anti-Black Schools; Chapter Two: This is Who We Are; Chapter Three: But I Don’t Want to be a Principal: Intersectional Racism and Black Leadership Pathways; Chapter Four: They Don’t See Our Babies; Chapter Five: They Don’t See Me: Coping and The Double Duty of Authenticity ; Chapter Six: This is How We Do: Authentic Leadership; Epilogue: Where are They Now?

Rachelle Rogers-Ard has over 28 years’ experience as a classroom instructor, non-profit administrator, program manager, Adjunct Professor, and district administrator. Currently, Dr. Rogers-Ard is the Executive Director, People, Leadership and Development, with the Alameda County Office of Education and the founder and co-lead for the Grow Your Own Collective.

Christopher B. Knaus is Professor of Education at the University of Washington Tacoma. A global critical race practitioner, Dr. Knaus focuses on disrupting the intersectional racism of colonial schools and colleges, and investing in Black and Indigenous educational systems.