Abiola Farinde-Wu - Böcker

With the emergence of a diverse public school student population, existing literature affirms the existence of a Black teacher shortage and the low representation of teachers of color in U.S. public schools. Although there are over 3 million public school teachers, African American teachers only comprise approximately 8 percent of the public school teaching workforce. In fact, the education field is dominated by White, middle-class teachers, particularly, White female teachers. While the retention of all teachers of color is a pertinent issue, an examination of Black female teachers who can assist in diversifying the teaching field is timely and warranted. Despite Black females’ historic role in public education and that teaching is a female-dominated profession, Black female teachers represent only 7.7 percent of the American teaching force, while students of color represent almost 49 percent of the total student enrolment. This important, timely, and provocative book places recruitment and retention of Black female teachers at the center. The contributions address not only the recruitment of Black female teachers but also discuss mechanisms necessary to retain them. Thus, this collection not only focuses on recruiting and retaining Black female teachers for the sake of having their representation in schools; rather, authors consider some of the implicit (and overt) nuances that these teachers experience in schools across the United States.

Mentoring While White: Culturally Responsive Practices for Sustaining the Lives of Black College Students provides a provocative and illuminating account of the mentoring experiences of Black college and university students based on their racialized and marginalized identities. Bettie Ray Butler, Abiola Farinde-Wu, and Melissa Winchell bring together a diverse group of well-respected leading and emerging scholars to present new and compelling arguments pointing to what white faculty should do to reimagine mentoring that seeks to sustain the lives of Black students by way of intentionality, reciprocal love, and transformative practice. This timely and relevant text takes a solution-oriented approach in offering direct guidance, promising strategies, and key insights on how to effectively implement culturally responsive mentoring practices that aim to improve cross-racial mentor-mentee relationships and post-school outcomes for Black students in higher education. It provides clear and immediate recommendations that can inform and positively shape mentoring interactions with Black women, men, and queer undergraduate and graduate students using innovative models that draw upon critical media and antiracist frameworks. The book is a must-read for anyone who currently mentors or desires to mentor Black college and university students.