Race Through Education

Madison and Fawziah

Race Through Education is the podcast that explores how Black and Brown people experience education in America. Through informed conversations with experts and a centering of the lived experiences of Black and Latinx folx, we aim to understand the complexities of learning and schooling in America.

  1. RTE S2E3 - Sistah's Circle: Remembering bell hooks - Part 2

    02/22/2022

    RTE S2E3 - Sistah's Circle: Remembering bell hooks - Part 2

    Episode 3: Sistah’s Circle: Remembering bell hooks with Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas & Dr. Aisha Haynes “Any woman who wishes to be an intellectual, to write non-fiction, to deal with theory, faces a lot of discrimination coming her way and perhaps even self-doubt because there aren’t that many who’ve gone before you. And I think that the most powerful tool we can have is to be clear about our intent. To know what it is we want to do rather than going into institutions thinking that the institution is going to frame for us".” - bell hooks In this week’s episode of Race Through Education, we bring you a Sistah’s Circle of Black women scholars who discuss just what bell hooks meant to them - academically and personally. Co-host Fawziah speaks with fellow New York University scholars, Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas and Dr. Aisha Haynes about how the works of hooks have impacted their understanding of their existence as Black women in educational spaces. Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas is an Assistant Professor at Queens college in educational leadership. She studies issues of equity and access through the K - Professoriate level and also examines equity and access for high school students as it relates to college transition programs and persistence to and through college. She also studies Black women in the professoriate and readiness for the tenure track-level and persistence to and through tenure and beyond. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education, Culture and Human Development. Her research focuses on college readiness, distributed leadership, and community engagement. She has over 10 years of combined experience in secondary teaching (7-12), college and graduate-level teaching, nonprofit management, higher education administration, and research. Gray-Nicolas holds a BA in English from Cornell University and two MSEd degrees (English Education and Inclusive Special Education) from the Syracuse University Graduate School of Education. An avid volunteer, she mentors high school and college students. Follow her on Twitter Dr. Aisha Haynes a director on the Prepared To Teach team. She co-develops and supports research, reports, and briefs that are written by and with local partnerships in our National Learning Network. Aisha most recently supported a college access program where she worked to strengthen academic enrichment activities to provide students with an effective academic bridge from high school to college. This work is an extension of her research, which focuses on the experience of historically excluded communities navigating public institutions. Her current research falls into several areas of focus, including neoliberal or market reform, school gentrification, school leadership, critical race theory, and interest convergence. She looks forward to extending that research to examining these phenomena in other public spaces. Aisha’s work ultimately aims to bridge the gap between academic research and the experience of practitioners. In addition to her professional work, she serves as the director of communications of C.O.O.L. Kids, a non-profit organization committed to cultivating the next generation to become socially conscious leaders. Aisha earned her master’s degree in teaching at Fordham University and obtained her bachelor’s degree in English literature at Villanova University. She holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy from New York University. Follow her on Twitter

    30 min
  2. 02/15/2022

    RTE S2E2 - Sistah's Circle: Remembering bell hooks - Part 1

    Episode 2: Sistah’s Circle: Remembering bell hooks with Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas & Dr. Aisha Haynes “Any woman who wishes to be an intellectual, to write non-fiction, to deal with theory, faces a lot of discrimination coming her way and perhaps even self-doubt because there aren’t that many who’ve gone before you. And I think that the most powerful tool we can have is to be clear about our intent. To know what it is we want to do rather than going into institutions thinking that the institution is going to frame for us".” - bell hooks In this week’s episode of Race Through Education, we bring you a Sistah’s Circle of Black women scholars who discuss just what bell hooks meant to them - academically and personally. Co-host Fawziah speaks with fellow New York University scholars, Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas and Dr. Aisha Haynes about how the works of hooks have impacted their understanding of their existence as Black women in educational spaces. Dr. Nakia Gray-Nicolas is an Assistant Professor at Queens college in educational leadership. She studies issues of equity and access through the K - Professoriate level and also examines equity and access for high school students as it relates to college transition programs and persistence to and through college. She also studies Black women in the professoriate and readiness for the tenure track-level and persistence to and through tenure and beyond. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education, Culture and Human Development. Her research focuses on college readiness, distributed leadership, and community engagement. She has over 10 years of combined experience in secondary teaching (7-12), college and graduate-level teaching, nonprofit management, higher education administration, and research. Gray-Nicolas holds a BA in English from Cornell University and two MSEd degrees (English Education and Inclusive Special Education) from the Syracuse University Graduate School of Education. An avid volunteer, she mentors high school and college students. Follow her on Twitter Dr. Aisha Haynes a director on the Prepared To Teach team. She co-develops and supports research, reports, and briefs that are written by and with local partnerships in our National Learning Network. Aisha most recently supported a college access program where she worked to strengthen academic enrichment activities to provide students with an effective academic bridge from high school to college. This work is an extension of her research, which focuses on the experience of historically excluded communities navigating public institutions. Her current research falls into several areas of focus, including neoliberal or market reform, school gentrification, school leadership, critical race theory, and interest convergence. She looks forward to extending that research to examining these phenomena in other public spaces. Aisha’s work ultimately aims to bridge the gap between academic research and the experience of practitioners. In addition to her professional work, she serves as the director of communications of C.O.O.L. Kids, a non-profit organization committed to cultivating the next generation to become socially conscious leaders. Aisha earned her master’s degree in teaching at Fordham University and obtained her bachelor’s degree in English literature at Villanova University. She holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy from New York University. Follow her on Twitter

    26 min
  3. RTE S2E1 - Black at The Root: The Foundation of Black Education in America**

    02/08/2022

    RTE S2E1 - Black at The Root: The Foundation of Black Education in America**

    Welcome back to season 2 of Race Through Education! We took some time off to work towards these degrees and get our minds right. But we are back with a brand new season and to kick things off we are talking Black education with Dr. Robert P. Robinson. When you think about Black education in the United States do you go back to 1619 or does your mind bring you to 1954 and Brown v. Board of Education? Mainstream narratives surrounding Black education in America tend to ignore all of the contributions made by Black educators, parents, communities, and activists. In this week’s episode, Dr. Robinson discusses the Black Freedom Movement and what that means for Black education and schooling in the United States and we dive deeper into the history Black Panther Party’s Oakland Community Schools (OCS). Robert P. Robinson is an Assistant Professor in the SEEK Program at John Jay College and an Induction Mentor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Prior to higher education, he was a K-12 educator and mentor for 11 years. His broad research and teaching focus on Black education history, history of U.S. education, curriculum studies, higher education mentorship, and the Black Freedom Movement. His upcoming new book project is a history of the Black Panther Party’s Oakland Community School (OCS) as a site for understanding Black self-determination, the shift in mainstream curriculum and pedagogy, and the Black radical imagination in education. Find him on Twitter @RobertPRobinson

    35 min
  4. RTE Episode 9: Black Man on Campus: Navigating Higher Education

    12/15/2020

    RTE Episode 9: Black Man on Campus: Navigating Higher Education

    If you read or watch the news, you would easily believe that Black boys and men's educational trajectories are bleak and that they are impervious to success (Harper, 2012). While Black boys and men are one of the most marginalized groups in the U.S., the perception that they do not care about education is not true. In an effort to dispel these stereotypes and perceptions, we center the lived experience of an early-career Black male scholar and professor. Listen as we unpack what it means to be a Black man on campus, from Black identity formation as an undergrad student at a Historically Black University (HBCU) to completing advanced graduate degrees at a Predominately White Institution (PWIs), and everything else in between. To discuss this journey, we are joined by Dr. Christopher Johnson. His dissertation, Negotiating Black Male Identity While Navigating Predominately White Institutions, explored Black male doctoral students' strategies and behaviors to manage their interracial interaction with their White faculty and peers at a Predominately White Institution (PWI). Dr. Johnson is an assistant professor at Coe College, where he teaches Sport and Black Culture, Interracial Communication, and interracial interactions. You can find him on Instagram @DeepAsEmptyPockets. Resources Harper, S. R., & Davis III, C. H. (2012). They (Don't) Care about Education: A Counternarrative on Black Male Students' Responses to Inequitable Schooling. Educational Foundations, 26, 103-120. Johnson, C. O. (2016). Negotiating black male identity while navigating predominately white institutions (Doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia).

    27 min
5
out of 5
18 Ratings

About

Race Through Education is the podcast that explores how Black and Brown people experience education in America. Through informed conversations with experts and a centering of the lived experiences of Black and Latinx folx, we aim to understand the complexities of learning and schooling in America.