!      ÒREADINÕ SISTAHS AFTER SCHOOL:  
COUNTERSTORIES FROM AN ALL BLACK 
GIRL BOOK CLUBÓ
  By Carleen Carey
           A DISSERTATION
 Submitted to
 Michigan State University
 in partial fulfillment of the requirements
 for the degree of
  Curriculum, Instruction a
nd Teacher Education
ÐDoctor of Philosophy
 2015         !ABSTRACT
   ÒREADINÕ SISTAHS AFTER SCHOOL: COUNTERSTORIES FROM AN ALL BLACK 
GIRL BOOK CLUBÓ
  By Carleen Carey
  This study uses ethnographic tools to analyze one after
-school Black girl book club. It add
resses 
the question, ÒHow do the students construct raced and gendered identities as they engage with 
texts?Ó While some studies highlight the need for teachers to employ culturally relevant 
curricula, more studies are required to illuminate how students t
hemselves define which texts are 
culturally sustaining. Drawing on GeeÕs model of discourse as type of toolkit, this study 
investigates the stories narrated by six female African American
1 seventh
-graders over the course 
of one school year in a large Midwe
stern city. Using critical discourse analysis, this study 
illustrates how written and oral story
-telling can support studentsÕ critical literacy development. 
This dissertation expands the literature on identity and literacy.
 It expands our knowledge about 
 an oral narrative in conversational response to text, thus uncovering the potential of narrative and 
conversational response to text as a tool for both young adult identity development and teacher 
education, especially among young women of color studying 
English in urban settings.
        !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1  In this study, I use ÒAfrican AmericanÓ to indicate the racial and ethnic background of the participants 
and myself, and ÒBlackÓ to indicate the people and places of the global African Diaspora.
!!                 Copyright by
 CARLEEN CAREY
 2015!!"#!                      To Miss Millie, my first advocate, and to all those who advocate, protect, and support Black girls 
through teaching, researching, parenting, grand
-pare
nting, mentoring, befriending, and aunty
-ing, this project
 is for you.
                      !!#!ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
   THANKS GIRLS, COMMITTEE, MOM & DAD!
  There isnÕt enough ink and paper in the world to say Ôthank youÕ to all the people who 
made this project pos
sible. Yet and still, I want to thank the principal, teachers, staff, and 
students of Midwestern K
-8 for welcoming me into their amazing learning community. I 
especially want to thank the book club girls, who showed me that the magic of black girls is 
bloo
d-deep and centuries strong. To my co
-chairs Susan and David, committee, and Docta V, 
words cannot express my thanks.  Mom and Dad, we are a long way from King George county, 
and the journey would not have been fathomable without you! THANK YOU to my famil
y who 
believed in me every step of the way and for that I will be eternally grateful. Annie, my first and 
best editor, will always have a special place in my heart. 
To Dr.Woodson, Dr. Jacobs, and Dr. 
Quinney, #TeamBlackGrads have done it again! 
From the Up
per Penthouse, Sherrae and Ashley, 
wonÕt He will?
  Thank you to Dr. Judith Stoddart, Dr. Julius Jackson, Dr. Tony Nunez, Dr. Michael 
Sedlak, and Dr. Avner Segal for trusting me with the King
-Chavez
-Parks and University 
Enrichment Fellowships. Dr. Dorinda C
arter, your example of Sistah Scholarship is a standard I 
will forever hold dear. Dr. Chris Dunbar, thank you for forming the Urban Education 
Concentration, it allowed me to find an intellectual community when I needed it most. The 
African American and Afr
ican Studies program, under the direction of Dr. Rita Edozie, gave me 
the chance to achieve something new, an
d I cannot say thank you enough!
 To Susan, Davis, 
Django, and Terrion, thanks for being a support in times of need! 
Dr. Troutman, your dedication 
!!#"!to uncovering the ways and wisdoms of Black women will always be my inspiration for the 
mentoring groups to come.  Dr. Django Paris, thank you for humanizing research for me. 
To 
Linda Brandau, Karen Gray, Trina Trefil, and Deanne Hubbell, thank you for alwa
ys looking out 
for me, and please know that your work keeps this entire university afloat!
   Thank you to Golden Harvest, for feeding my soul.
                          !!#""!PREFACE
   Author Note: This research was supported in part by a University Enrichment Fe
llowship from 
the College of Education and in part by a King
-Chavez
-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship from 
the Graduate School, both located at Michigan State University.  Correspondence concerning this 
dissertation should be addressed to Carleen Carey, Depa
rtment of Teacher Education, 313 
Erickson Hall, Farm Lane, East Lansing, MI 48824.  Contact: 
Carleen.Carey@gmail.com
.                  !!!!!!#"""!TABLE OF CONTENTS
   LIST OF TABLES
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!#!LIST OF FIGURES
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!#$!CHAPTER 1:  Introduction to Race, Gender, and Literacy at Midwestern K
-8!""""""""""""""""""""!%!!"#$%&'()*&*"+(,-&./012&*1#/3241/%&56&)057/%4/8#&9137%
!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!%!Lit
eracy Environments: Engaging Raced Gender Ideas at Mid
-Western K
-8!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!%!Urban Education in the Midwest: Rustcity, USA
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!&!Midwestern K
-8: Afrocentric Schooling in Urban Context.
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!'!Bounding the Study
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!()!*+,-"./!0122"31-14!562!0"78!9":.;!!<55!=32">7!62!<+!?@2,A7B
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!((!!"#$%&'()*+&!,#"-(./&01"2#,#,"%&,2&34.,()&542#"6#
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!(C!7,%.48-%"&(21&'"6#8
()&92()/%,%&,2&:";4#,(#,2;&<4821(-,"%
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!(D!CHAPTER 2: Introduction to the Study
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!%&!(*)&18&:3;28&<58#/=#%>&?@/8&<5A3#B&?@/8&.180%C
!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!'(!Literacy and Identity in the ÒExtra
-curriculumÓ
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!C(!Talk, Text, and Testing the Boundaries of Culture and Identity
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!C%!DE/53/#1427&+32F/G53H&I&'/J1/G&56&*1#/32#A3/
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!')!Research Questions
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!CE!Critical Race Feminism: Critical Race Theory Meets Black Feminist Thought
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!%)!Connecting Theory, Practice, and Methods: Framing the Research Questions
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!%(!K/%1L8&56&#E/&M#A0N>&
&(#E85
L32@E14&D557%&.//#&K1%45A3%/&)827N%1%
!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!**!The ResearcherÕs Role
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!%D!Setting & Context of the Book Club
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!%&!<44*&5)8=&>-4."18-"%
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!%&!9.#4-%
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!D)!Data Collection Techniques & Sources of Data
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!D(!Reliability
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!DD!Coding: Induction, Deduction, and Analysis
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!D&!?%#&@4821&4A&541,2;+&B4-1
%C&>D-(%"%C&(21&>-"),E,2(-/&541"%
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!D'!F21&@4821&4A&541,2;+&38=
G5(#";4-,"%&HE"-;"
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!D'!I-1&@4821&4A&541,2;+&HE"-;,2;&<,2(-,"%
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!DF!CHAPTER 3: Investigating Book Clubs: Who,
 What, How, and Why
!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!+%!DE/&(=#32
O4A3314A7AF&2%&2&M#2L/>&P55H&<7A;%B&Q/3%#53NB&280&*16#18L&2%&R/&<71F;
!""""""""""""""""""""!+'!Scripts, Gazes, Production: 
 Black Racial Identity Development In/Out of Classrooms
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!GG!Casting Call: 
 Race, Gender, and the Role of Intersectionality in Literacy Practices
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!GF!Genres of Difference: 
 Young Adult Fiction as a Potential Border Crossing
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!GE!CHAPTER 4: The Case of Cyber
-bully: Literacy as an Emotional Tool
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!)%!DE/&'24/0
O9/80/3/0&'/%/234E/3
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!)*!Unlearning My Inner Teacher as Researcher Identity
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!&D!.//#18L&2#&#E/&
"8#/3%/4#158>&(F5#15827B&"801J10A27B&280&M54127&S//0%&18&P55H&<7A;
!"""""""""""""""""!))!I get way more bullying at home: Movie Responses as Emotional Tools
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!&E!Black girls make the world a better placeÓ: Self
-Image 
in the Book Club
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!'G!CHAPTER 5: Four Women, Four Worlds: Critical Media Analysis in Book Club
!"""""""""""""!&(!!!"H!?8&<57531%F>&!"&#E18H&M1F58/&S182&1%&#3N18L&#5&0/%431;/&65A3&#E18L%&#E2#&45753/0&G5F/8&71J/&
#E35ALE&
0166/3/8#-&TU/1%E2V
!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!&*!Shades of Colorism: Intertextual Counternarratives of ÒFour WomenÓ
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!FD!P724H&;5N%B&;724H&L137%>&)057/%4/8#%&58&#E/&W571#14%&56&)/%#E/#14%
!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!,(!Who
 has the right to tell these stories?:Ò Because her name is Nina, a name not necessarily common 
in this cultureÓ
-Ebony
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!EG!CHAPTER 6: Black Girls Rock: Emotions, Empathy, and Empowerment in Black 
Girlhood Literacies
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!,&!P724H&9137%&'54H>&<5753B&'24/B&280&)4E1/J/F/8#&18&#E/&./012
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!%((!I?/A8!@--!J622"A:!@K617!K-@3L!>A6>-AMN;!O@3AP!QA+:A2P!@+:!0A-AK2"7"A.!"+!7/A!RA:"@
!""""""""""""""""""""!%()!W350A418L&./012>&(F@2#E
N&280&)6613F2#158&#E35ALE&W5/#3N
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!%%(!Smiley Face: Shape Poems and Emotional Expression
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!(()!CHAPTER 7: Real Talk in Implications, Discussion, and Conclusions
!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!%%)!:87/2
3818L&#E/&.N#E%>&P724H&9137%&2%&<5772;532#1J/&*1#/324N&*/20/3%
!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!%%)!Myth #1: Black Teen Girls are Reluctant Readers
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!(('!Myth #2: Black Teen Girls are Emotionally Immature
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!((F!Myth #3: Black Girls are Loud Aggressors
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!(C(!02"7"3@-!Q"2-3/"-:!S"7A2@3"A.;!T!U2@4AJ62L!562!OA@:"+V!@+V!W2"7"+X!=".7@/.
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!(C%!U"2.7!Y2"+3">-A;!Z14@+"78
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!(CG!=A36
+:!Y2"+3">-A;![6"3A
!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!(C&!?/"2:!Y2"+3">-A;!02"7"\1A
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!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!(CE!06+3-1."6+;!OA@-!Q"2-.P!OA@-!?@-L
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!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!%-%!BIBLIOGRAPHY
!"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""!%-*! !!H!LIST OF TABLES
    Table 1: Books Read in Book Club
 ........................................................................................... 21   !!H"!LIST O
F FIGURES
   Figure 1: The Motto
 ...................................................................................................................... 6  Figure 2: School Office Bulletin Board and Postings
 ................................................................ 9  Figure 3: Afrocentric ELA Classroom Walls, BookIt Program with basal readers
 ............ 10  Figure 4: CRT vs CRF
 ................................................................................................................ 33  Figure 5: Ebony's Journal Entry #1
 .......................................................................................... 75  Figure 6: Jasmine's Journal #3
 .................................................................................................. 77  Figure 7: Ebony's Journal #2
 ..................................................................................................... 91  Figure 8: Monica's Journal #3
 ................................................................................................. 101  Figure 9: Monica's 'Smiley' Poem
. .......................................................................................... 111 Figure 10: Ashley's 'Color' Poem
 ............................................................................................ 112 Figure 11: Monica's 'Teachers These 
Days' Poem
 ................................................................. 113 Figure 12: Ashley & Ebony's 'Beauty' Drawings
. ................................................................. 114  Figure 13: Critical Girlchild Literacies (CGL) Illustrated
 ................................................... 123  Figure 14: Huminity Principle Illus
trated
 .............................................................................. 125  Figure 15: Voice Principle Illustrated
 ..................................................................................... 126  Figure 16: Critique Principle Illustrated
 ................................................................................ 128  Figure 17: IRB Approval Letter
ÉÉÉÉÉ...É..ÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ..135  !!(! CHAPTER 1:  Introduction to Race, Gender, and Literacy at Midwestern K
-8   ÒThe book as home, retreat, and reliable source of knowledge could be inciting resistance or 
rebellionÓ 
(Heath, 2011)
  ÒItÕs REAL LIFE!Ó Media Literacies of Adolescent Girls
  Everyday contexts, such as The Lifetime Movie Network and school dances, give the 
girls a variety of images of Black womanhood and girlhood that
 they sought to understand, 
question, and revise in book club. To prompt their thinking, I used race
- and gender
-specific 
texts, such as Mildred D. TaylorÕs 
The Land
, the sequel to the classic 
Roll of Thunder, Hear My 
Cry
.  In the next passage, the girls d
iscuss one character, Thelma, as an image of Black 
womanhood.
 Carleen:  So whatÕs going on in that passage?
 Tasha: They are saying that a boy is trying to go out with her and he's saying wait until 
she gets grown and see how its going to turn out.  
 Carlee
n:  How do they think Thelma is? WhatÕs she like?
 Tasha:  ThatÕs a weird kind
-of-name
 Ebony:  I get it, they are talking aboutÉ women talk too much
 Carleen:  Right!
 Jasmine:  They DO talk too much!
 Tasha:  No, 
YOU talk too much!
  Over the course of our nin
e months together, the book club girls turned to critical 
readings of media to help them crystallize and perform their emerging adolescent roles as young 
women of color. This process came along with the development of critical literacy skills and 
perspecti
ves. Keisha, a brown
-skinned, chubby
-cheeked Hello Kitty fan, initially described her 
!!C!reasons for liking Lifetime movies by saying, ÒTheyÕre real life! They actually happened!Ó When 
this response was examined in discussion with peers and in relation to oth
er texts, Keisha had an 
opportunity to re
-visit her assumption that the events really happened, why a movie was made 
about them, and why it might resonate with her. Though literature discussion, this study shows 
club members coming to critical readings of 
popular culture in ways that as Morrell (2002) 
suggests, "can help students deconstruct dominant narratives and contend with oppressive 
practices in hopes of achieving a more egalitarian and inclusive societyÓ (p.72).
             In the following pages, I 
tune in to the frequencies of one group of African American 
students as they participate in an after
-school book club with me. As book club leader, I was 
careful to separate out my middle
-class  
 In tuning in, I discuss (1) how studentsÕ understandings of 
race and gender are both 
confirmed and contested; (2) how analysis of novels and characters is informed by 
understandings of black womanhood in popular culture; (3) that identity group memberships 
within groups conditions literacy practices, and (4) their 
interactions with texts shape and shift 
the social roles the girls to which the girls are exposed.
 Historically, the extracurriculum has 
been conceptualized as a space where those people who are excluded from formal learning 
situations come together in pur
suit of skills, knowledge, and through literacy practices, engage in 
the work of Òdefining their own cultural identityÓ (Gere, 1997).
 I look for themes of 
counterstories, which are: Ò...a method of telling the stories of those people whose experiences 
are 
not often told (i.e, those on the margins of society). The counter story is also a tool for 
exposing, analyzing, and challenging the majoritarian stories of racial privilegeÓ (SolŠrzano and 
Yosso, 2002, p. 47).
 !!%!         I sketch the varied and complex pres
sures facing the girls as preteen, African American 
adolescent females.  Heeding Ladson
-Billings' imperative to consider Òthe broader constructions 
of Black women as unattractive, undesirable, and morally suspect 
(Ladson
-Billings, 2009, p. 87)
 I high
light that ÒstudentsÕ performances within the classroom cannot be free from sociopolitical 
tanglesÓ 
(Finders, 1997, p. 5)
. I wonder if and how these tanglesÕ historical and current 
dimensions shape how black girls use literacy practices to fashion new ideas, such as race
-gender 
roles.
  Literacy Environments: Engaging Raced Gender Ideas at Mid
-Western K
-8  With the exception of Ebony, a slender mahogany
-skinned basketball player, the book 
club girls studied in single
-sex classrooms. This was a structural decision the princip
al explained 
to me as Òhelping all students to learnÓ (Carey, personal communication, 12
-4-13). At 
Midwestern K
-8, coed classrooms were reserved for the seventh and eight grade honors classes, 
and the book club girls, though able students, were not enrolle
d in these classes. Nonetheless, the 
girls in book club socialized with boys in the halls between classes,
 formed friendships, went to 
the movies on weekends, and had romantic relationships with the boys. In book club, the topics 
of gender and race were di
scussed in relation to the girlsÕ school life, the book club texts, and the 
movies, T.V shows, and music the girls encountered in their everyday lives. For example, when 
asked for weekly updates, Jasmine replied, ÒUpdates? (
Books fall, giggles
) The updates
 are at the 
dance this one nasty trick was dancing on this boyÉÓ and Ebony chimed in ÒExactly, Devin! He 
!!D!was all like 
this 
and she was all like 
thatÉ
Ó2 and Jasmine cuts in to say Òhip
-rollin,Õ grindin, 
poppinÕ, twerkin!...You are in the 
seventh grade
 honey
, you are NOT supposed to be doing that!Ó 
While the girlsÕ sometimes used negative images of Black femininity (Ònasty trickÓ), they also 
shifted some discourses for their specific use, such as injecting an age
-based rationale for 
justifying the immorality 
of their school mateÕs behavior at the spring dance.
    In grappling with these representations, the girls reveal the ways they used literature 
and literacy for their emotional, social, and individual needs, i.e figuring out whether or not 
talkativeness is
 an individual trait or a gender trait, and whether womenÕs talkativeness is innate 
or ascribed by men. In doing so, they demonstrate that literacy educators need new ways to 
attend to the cultural and developmental contexts
 of these learners.
  Research on
 the links between black girlsÕ literacy practices and identities reveals that 
literacy has a transformative power to change the narratives of their everyday lives 
(Winn, 2011)
. Yet, in order to achieve powerful transformations with literacy, students need opportunities to 
practice and material to read. Because the schoolÕs library collections were lost in
 a natural 
disaster that destroyed their building, the current library selections were slim pickings, with titles 
such as
 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief, Harry Potter 
and the Half
-Blood Prince, Monster, The House of Di
es Drear,
 and
 The Cay.
 With so few books 
relative to the student body, most were only available for in
-class reading, but this did not stop 
students from seeking out texts for pleasure reading outside of class. The girls in book club 
reported finding readi
ng material at their local public libraries and bookstores, and in the 
collections of older family members at home (Carey, field notes, 11
-26-12). In response to my 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!2 A note on conventi
ons: In this project, I use 
italics
 for emphasis and 
(italics) 
to indicate physical 
movement. I omit line numbers, and use ellipses É to indicate pauses. 
!!!G!question: ÒWhat are some things you think you would like to read?Ó the girls gave varied 
responses.
 Tasha: Mystery like 
Pretty Little Liars
! Jasmine:  Oh my God that is so good!  How about ÒThe Lying Game?Ó
 Carleen:  Ok, so how many people have read ÒPretty Little Liars?Ó
 Ebony:  IÕve read the first one.
 Carleen:  So, everyone has read the first
 one.  It was a good one?  How about the other 
book, ÒThe Lying GameÓ?
 Ebony:  Oh yes.
 Jasmine:  ThereÕs a library were you sign
-up for the book and if its not on the shelf they 
can order it from another library for you and you just pick it up.
 Carleen:  I
s that were you tend to get your books from the library?  What about you guys?
 Ashley: I go to the library!
 Carleen:  Is that the school library or another library?
 Student:  No itÕs the public libraryÉMineÕs is Cherry Lane Library.
  In book club, I tried 
to supplement their resources by providing the students with new 
copies of the texts we read together, and free
-choice used books to read. They often looked 
forward to new books, inquired about specific titles and authors, and asked if they could take 
more
 than one book, often for a friend or relative. They were voracious, active, and avid readers, 
with literacy practices both rooted in and spanning across cultural contexts. While literacy 
researchers such as Weistein 
(2002) underscore students Òself
-motivated literacies,Ó a small and 
growing body of work examines the school and out of school co
ntexts where these literacies take 
shape, and their connections to Black female students raced and gendered identities 
(Evans 
Winters, 2010; Finders, 1997; Fordham, 1993; Gibson, 2010; Henry, 1998; Kynard, 2010; 
Richardson, 2002, 2009; Smith, 1997; Staples, 2009; Weinstein, 2002; Winn, 2011)
. That is, 
there is a gap between the research 
we need to more deliberately educate Black girls for critical 
literacy, and the research that has been done. 
 !!&! Urban Education in the Midwest: Rustcity, USA
  Rustcity, a Midwestern historic destination for Southern African Americans during the 
First and Se
cond Great Migrations, was once a center of American industry, and popular music 
culture; yet has been in decline for the latter half of the twentieth century. White flight has 
moved much of the tax base from city center to the suburbs, resulting in a pers
istent racialized 
poverty that affects the cityÕs economy, housing, transportation, and education (Sugrue, 2005). 
The dominant national narrative is that Rustcity is a crumbling town already lost to urban decay; 
yet a crucial missing piece of this narrativ
e is that of the educational changes taking place in the 
heart of the city.
  In the midst of the city, seated just off a major highway, Midwestern K
-8 is 
public charter school at the center of a cultural shift in education. With gifted leadership, faculty,
 and students, Midwestern K
-8 is one example of the successes of culturally
-sustaining (Paris, 
2012) education that are often overlooked in the haste to pathologize urban education. 
According 
to Paris (2012) culturally
-sustaining pedagogies are those that 
Òseek to perpetuate and foster
Ñto 
sustain
Ñlinguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schoolingÓ 
(p. 93).  Figure 
1: The Motto
  !!'!Midwestern K
-8: Afrocentric Schooling in Urban Context. 
  Like R
ustcity, Midwestern K
-8 is in the process of reinventing itself.
  It is now housed in 
the former Foxfield Middle School building, which had a reputation of producing stellar students 
for the cityÕs top high schools. The schoolsÕ catchment area encompasses 
a small chunk of the 
city that rests against the northern city limits, butting up against a township that spells the 
beginning of the sprawling suburbs. The blocks around the school are dotted with abandoned 
houses, and decaying buildings, remnants of the 
booming auto factory town Rustcity once was.
 After a natural disaster destroyed the previous historic building it occupied, Midwestern 
K-8 moved to a former middle school. What this new building lacked in architectural charm, it 
made up for in amenities li
ke an indoor gym, a tennis court, and lab rooms for instruction. The 
tennis courts, a jungle gym, and a baseball diamond are separated from the school building by 
the teachersÕ parking lot, and after three in the afternoon, the area buzzed with children pl
aying 
while they wait for pick
-up, or walk home.
             The principal, Mr. Freeman, reported that prior to housing Midwestern K
-8, the previous 
school, Foxfield Middle School, had a sterling reputation for educating the students of the mostly 
middle
-class neighborhood. When Midwestern K
-8Õs population of working
-class families 
moved into the building, there were fears that this perceived reputation of the school would be 
negatively affected, despite Midwestern K
-8Õs state test scores being the same or 
higher. This 
was a story later corroborated by one math teacher, Mr. Brown, who taught in the building prior 
to and just after the transition. Mr. Brown suggested that the ÒqualityÓ of the student body had 
Ògone downÓ after the move (Carey, field notes, 9
-7-12). According to the schoolÕs profile 
posted on the district website, of Midwestern K
-8Õs five hundred total students, approximately 
seventy percent qualify for free and reduced lunch and ninety
-nine percent are identified as 
!!F!African American, while one
 percent are identified as Asian American. These perceptions, which 
essentially equate socioeconomic class to school performance, stand in stark opposition to the 
facts, such as the schoolÕs twenty
-point gain in writing and reading scores on state tests in
 the 
2012-2013 school year.
 Seventy
-five percent of the faculty and staff of Midwestern K
-8 are founding teachers, 
meaning that they have taught at the school from the time it was founded until now, according to 
Mr. Freeman, and they are dedicated to the s
choolÕs mission of ÒEducation by Any Means 
Necessary.Ó This mission was highlighted in the districtsÕ 
School of The Week 
bulletin, which 
states that it Òis rooted in the belief that cultural context and critical consciousness is integral to 
teaching, learn
ing, and the well
-being of the whole childÓ (Rustcity Public Schools, 2013).
 This 
is the definition of African
-centered that this study will use.
 To this end, the school employs 
African
-centered curriculum, which means Òthe process of making the students t
he center of all 
learning; teaching students what African Americans contributed to American society and the 
worldÓ (Rustcity Public Schools, 2013). This curriculum is evident in the ways students address 
teachers as Baba and Mama (ÔfatherÕ and ÔmotherÕ in 
Ki-Swahili), which is both a nod to share 
African heritage and a gesture revealing the communal spirit of the school. Ki
-Swahili is also a 
foundation for the behavior expectations, which are posted in the front office bulletin board 
with 
the African Americ
an Creed.
 !!E! Figure 
2:  School Office Bulletin Board and Postings
  Physically, the hallways of the school are papered with posters of historic figures in 
African American history, current facts about African nations, and the artwork
 of students. In 
classrooms, quotes of African American writers are displayed alongside grammar rules, research 
reports/assignments on Historically Black Colleges and Universities are part of 7
th grade ELA 
classes, and videos such as Alex HaleyÕs
 Roots
 miniseries were a topic of discussion in both 
social studies and in ELA classes. Grade
-level classrooms are divided by gender, with the 
exception of the honors courses in seventh and eighth grades, in an effort to further support all 
studentsÕ learning, accor
ding to Dr. Freeman. After school, teachers not only tutor, but run 
enrichment programs such as Art Club, Golf
-Math team, and various sports activities from 
cheerleading to basketball. On weekends, students are invited to participate in the gender
-based 
mentoring programs of local universities, which is where I first came to know the school and 
students. The African
-centered curriculum is present in many facets of the schoolÕs daily 
functions, and serves to empower the students to serve their community.
 !!()!Whi
le the majority of the school is African
-centered, the use of the Open Court Reading 
program represents a puzzling departure. While one sixth
-grade teacher, Mrs. Lincoln, remarked 
that ÒÉI donÕt like the stories in the textbook, they are so dry!Ó (field no
tes, 11
-30-12). The 
textbooks and the basal readers represented only a part of the classroom literacy environment. 
Students bought in their own texts, bookshelves were stocked with both fiction and non
-fiction, 
and in the girlsÕ seventh
-grade classroom, ma
gazines and trade books were available for DEAR 
(Drop Everything And READ) time. Programs such as BookIt (see 
Figure 3
) also encouraged 
students to read in and out of class. While Mrs. Lincoln emphasized oral reading through student 
read
-alouds and ran wee
kly spelling bees, Mrs. WashingtonÕs 7
th grade girlsÕ class focused on 
practicing PowerPoint presentation skills with students and reading comprehension strategies.
    Figure 
3: Afrocentric ELA Classroom Walls, BookIt Program wit
h basal readers
  Bounding the Study
   Teacher educators such as Alvermann (2010) suggest that these studentsÕ identities as 
readers have been largely decided for them in deficit terms, and I wonder if this is a 
mischaracterization that prevents educators f
rom seeing the full scope of the emotional, social, 
and cultural identity analyses that these students perform when they read. With students like 
these in mind, teacher educators have long called for an explicit, complex examination of culture 
!!((!in curriculu
m and instruction (Ladson
-Billings, 1992; Florio
-Ruane, 1994, 2001). While 
pedagogies of youth popular culture
3 (Duncan
-Andrade, 2004)
 and critical literacy 
(Morrell, 
2007) illuminate
 effective practices for urban teachers, fewer educational researchers have 
documented how these teens define culturally
-sustaining texts and use literacy practices to 
identify themselves in and out of school (Kinloch, 2011; Kirkland, 2011; Morrell, 2002, 
2007; 
Paris, 2009, 2012; Winn, 2011) . 
 To practice culturally
-sustaining pedagogies, educators have to value studentsÕ multiple 
group memberships. Valuing studentsÕ identity is tied to recognizing how they experience 
culture, and especially, the ways they
 experience culture in terms of shared meaning and 
practices within a group. Specifically, this study does this by focusing on six preteen, African 
American females as they encounter African American young adult f
iction, poetry, popular 
music, T.V
 shows, a
nd other forms of media. This study asks broadly, ÒHow do African 
American adolescent young women enact and negotiate raced
4 and gendered
5 identities through 
their reading experiences?Ó
 English Cur
riculum for City Kids: 
 Off Script or On Target?
  Increasin
gly scripted English Language Arts curricula such as Open
-Court in classrooms 
stifle the voices of teens for expressing their views on texts beyond standardized assessments 
(Jaeger, 2013)
. Yet these voices are the only ones that can tell teacher educators 
if, how, when, 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!3 Defined as (Duncan
-Andrade, 2004)...youth popular culture includes the various cultural activities 
in which young people invest their time, including but not limited to: music, television, movies, video 
games, sport, Internet, text messaging, style, and language practices (p. 313).
!4 ÒRace involved the assumption that individuals can  be divided into gr
oups based on phenotype or 
genotype and that those groups have meaningful differencesÉrace is an ongoing phenomenon that is 
accomplished in interaction with others and that is situated in social contexts Ó
(Burton, Bonilla
-Silva,, 
Ray, Buckelew, & Hordge Freeman, 2010, p. 41)
.!5 ÒÉe
ven in an African
-centered classroom, where African pride is embraced and celebrated, some Black 
female students may still have to confront gendered dynamics that overlook, ignore, or suppress their 
multiple identities as women of African ancestryÓ 
(Evans Winters, 2010, p. 13)
.!!!(C!and which texts are important to their identities as raced, gendered, and cultured readers. With 
this problem in mind, this dissertation attempts to describe teensÕ negotiation of identity
 in their 
talk about texts within the informal settin
g of an after school book club
 for girls. Traditionally 
book clubs have meant spaces to center students around group discussion of books, (Raphael & 
McMahon, 1994; Daniels, 2002; Mahon et al, 1997) and I expand this notion of book clubs by 
including lyrics
, movies, T.V shows, Tweets, Facebook statuses, and magazines as texts. For this 
project, I consider the role of the extra
-curriculum, or purposeful learning in informal education 
spaces (Gere, 2001), as a context for the voices of participants. I then ana
lyze the girlsÕ talk 
about self and texts, and discuss findings related to their emotional, social, and cultural meaning
-making. I close the dissertation with a consideration of how students ÒidentityÓ talk in concert 
with text can help teacher educators a
nd beginning teachers
 to explore shared meaning
-making at 
the intersections of race, gender, and literacy (Gere, 2001).
  LetÕs Talk: Literacy Identities in Social Context
  Here, 
identity talk 
is conceptualized as the explicit construction of raced and gend
ered 
identities discussed, narrated, drawn, and written by a group of African
-American adolescent 
females, who represent a small and important slice of the heterogeneity of urban learners. This 
dissertation explores how the negotiation of intersectional ra
ced and gendered identities through 
reading, writing, and discussion may provide these students with space to explore, critique, and 
possibly transform the representations of African American young women in and across texts 
(Crenshaw, 1991).
 Historically, 
the extra
-curriculum has been conceptualized as a space where those people 
who are excluded from formal learning situations come together in pursuit of skills, knowledge, 
!!(%!and through literacy practices, engage in the work of Òdefining their own cultural id
entityÓ (Gere, 
1997). In this study, the extra
-curriculum is an after school text club, which I modeled after 
traditional book clubs which use literature as the focal point of discussion. I extended the role of 
ÒtextÓ to music and images in order to more f
ully capture the kinds of texts the girls encounter 
and produce. Because the purpose of this study is to explore identity across texts, the materials of 
the club are focused on African American culture, and specifically that of the narratives of teen 
black
 girls, as written by Black women.
 I use the term Ôextra
-curriculumÕ to indicate the setting of the book club. This term 
highlights the learning that students do outside of the school day and beyond classroom walls. I 
also use the term because the history 
of the extra
-curriculum shows that those people 
marginalized by formal schooling structures have used the extra
-curriculum as a space to engage 
in not just learning, but political and social activism as well (Gere, 2001).   
 One of the tensions this work a
ddresses is the paucity of theoretical and methodological 
tools for exploring, naming, and examining Black
 girlsÕ lived realities and literacy practices as 
they engage in cultural work to define themselves. In this study, I used the available theoretical 
tools, with the intention of expanding them to include Black girls. However, the data suggested 
that the girls in this study enact identities through lenses permeated with age
-based/specific 
understandings of race, gender, and stereotypes about Black Women 
as they read texts. To 
describe these understandings, I will use the term ÒCritical Girlhood LiteraciesÓ or CGL, which 
refers to a theoretical framework focused on recognizing the raced
-gendered resources Black 
girls and girls of color, bring to the readin
g task, activating these through engagements with 
multiple texts over time, and highlighting the emotional, social, and personal work the girls 
engage through their critical literacy development. CGL is further discussed in chapter seven.
 !!(D!Taking the positi
on that literacy is one stage on which identities are performed, I speak of 
acting on a stage as a metaphor for the public performance of identity. I am not thinking of 
enacting oneÕs identity as performance of a predetermined role, as in a script. Instead
, identity is 
more like a performance of stories of the self negotiated in interaction with others, as in 
improvisation 
(Gee, 2008)
. The 
ReadinÕ Sistahs
 book club
 I created for the purpose of this 
study
 sets up an activity setting where students are invited to come together in various 
engagements with text, which may or may not interrupt the p
erformance of their school 
identities. This club is conceptualized as a place of kitchen table literacies, or extracurricular 
informal discussions by community members where school
-based literacy practices are 
reclaimed for personal ends through participat
ion in shared meaning
-making within a group of 
practice 
(Ruggles
-Gere, 2001)
. This space is also a place where Òidentity eventsÓ c
an take place 
and where there are instances in discussions on texts that identify individuals in socio
-culturally 
specific ways within the shared community of practice 
(Wortham, 2005)
. Exploration of the 
extracurricular site can lead
 to the illumination of critical connections these youth make to texts, 
thus providing teacher educators with deeper insight into their meaning
-making literacy 
strategies. The text club, the temporal, physical and social site of this text
-talk, occurred du
ring 
the studentsÕ after
-school activities period over the course of one academic year.
  Discourse and Textual Analysis in Negotiating Boundaries
  In this dissertation, the girlsÕ discursive identity work is important primarily because it 
extends the bound
aries of prior and current conceptions of culture and identity in literacy 
practices, especially as they relate to preteen Black young women in urban English learning 
contexts. For example, identity scholarship in literacy uses the metaphor of literacy as 
a narrative 
!!(G!or story (Moje et al, 2009); yet it has been used without an explicit focus on how these stories 
map onto larger, hegemonic discourses about African American women, and more specifically, 
their representations in childrenÕs/YA media. 
Delgado an
d Stefancic (2001) 
suggest Òempowered 
groups long ago established a host of stories, narratives, conventions, and understanding that 
today, through repetition, seem natural and true.Ó These narratives are rooted in socio
-cultural 
contexts, and dynamics pow
er and oppression. Upon critical interrogation, these stories are 
revealed to have explicit ties to what Carol Lee (2003) calls Òfolk theories about groups in the 
human family that are inextricably tied to the relationship of power and dominanceÓ. It is fo
r this 
reason that the girls in the book club are presented with texts that tell different stories about 
Black young women, and encouraged to dialogue about what these stories represent, to whom, in 
what context, and for what purpose.
  Because scholars hav
e suggested that stories are an important site of deep meaning
-making, it is imperative to focus on the ways cultural narratives such as those about preteen 
Black readers, about childrenÕs literature, about Black femininity, connect with one another in 
int
ertextual ways, i.e, text
-text; text
-reader; reader
-reader; hegemonic narratives
- counter
-narratives (Gee, 2008). Educators and learners have used book clubs as a means to challenge 
deficit narratives of marginalized groups, such as womenÕs writing groups 
in 18th century 
literary societies (Gere, 1987), and to uncover teaching candidateÕs views on culture (Florio 
Ruane, 2001). While it is challenging to find contexts in which to prompt alternative sto
ries 
about marginalized groups 
in teacher education, wher
e deeply held cultural narratives are widely 
shared, tacitly held, and self
-perpetuating, this study attempts to create one instance to do so. 
 Without the inter
-textual focus, it is difficult to explore the research questions addressed in this 
study, such
 as how young women of color enact/perform their raced and gendered identities 
!!(&!through engaging with these representations and stories, as this dissertation does
.  Without 
asking such questions, the widespread under theorization on this population continue
s unchecked, thus rendering the literacy needs of these young women unaddressed.
 By emphasizing identity as a constant negotiation between text and reader in a 
community of practice and as a social construct
6, the discursive identity work detailed in this 
study seeks to equip learners with a means to interrogate explanations of who African American 
women and girls currently are, how they came to be, and in the future, who they may become, 
especially as it relates to their identities as learners, readers, an
d writers (Adams et al., 2013; 
Tatum, 2008). Taking the historic and current narratives of the Black female community into 
account, the discursive identity work in this dissertation seeks to illuminate a specific avenue for 
these teens to express their und
erstandings of culturally
-sustaining texts and to exercise 
emancipatory critical literacies, as indicated by prior critical English Education research (Bitz, 
2009; Boyd et al., 2006; Brooks & McNair, 2009; Ladson
-Billings, 2009; Lee, 2003, 2007; 
Morrell, 2
004b, 2007). In addition, Florio
-Ruane with deTar (2001) suggested that notions of 
culture are imperative to understanding the nature of learning and teaching, yet often go 
unaddressed in teacher education. To respond to this need, more research is needed 
which is 
specifically focused on how culture
-sharing groups, such as African American adolescent young 
women, define/negotiate raced and gendered identities through their reading experiences.
 In the preceding chapter, I will introduce the study, describing
 its rationale, goals, 
theoretical framework, and
 potential significance to the learners, educators, and activists in 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!6 In this study, I use the term Òsocial constructÓ to indicate an idea which is based upon hegemonic 
categories made of oppositional binaries that perpetuate a false reality through establishing and 
maintaining norms that privilege the dominant group. One ex
ample is race, which is largely thought of as 
Black vs White in America, leaving out Native Americans, Latino/@as, Asians, among other racial or 
ethnic groups (see Adams et al., 2013)
 !!!('!working together in cities worldwide. In these spaces, disparities in learning opportunities across 
socioeconomic groups move literacy edu
cators to examine studentsÕ discussion of text outside of 
schools. This inquiry serves as one means of connecting with preteens to remedy the educational 
debt by investing more time, energy, and resources into extended literacy learning opportunities 
for u
rban
7 students, who may identify with historically disenfranchised communities 
(Brooks, 
2006; Kynard, 2010; Ladson
-Billings, 2006; Staples, 2009; Winn, 2011)
. Therefore, this 
complex context requires tuning e
ducators in to the ways text
8, identity
9, and culture
10 influence 
the out of school reading experiences of the heterogeneous learner population.
       !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!7 I use the term ÔurbanÕ to signal that the study takes place in a city
 like other U.S cities, which are 
characterized by large, concentrated populations (in this case 700,000 residents) and to refer to a complex 
set of factors including industrialization and gentrification. I do not use ÔurbanÕ as an essentializing cover 
ter
m for poverty, ethnicity, or race, or to erase rural education inequalities.
!8 defined as Ò...more than sites of information or aesthetic expression; they are cultural tools for 
establishing belongingness, identity, personhood, and ways of knowingÓ
(Moje, Dillon, & OÕBrien, 2000, 
167)!9 defined as Òbeing recognized as a Ôkind of personÕ in a given contextÉ.In this sense of the term, all 
people have multiple identities connected not to their ;internal states; bu
t to their performances in 
society.Ó
(Gee, 2001, p. 100)
 !10 defined as Òculture, therefore , understood in its concrete forms, as practice, as a system of accumulated
 human social, material, and ideological experiencesÉcultural life consists of multiple voices, of unity as 
well as dischord, including an imperfect sharing of knowledge; of intergenerational misunderstanding, as 
well as common understandings; of developin
g both adaptive and maladaptive practices while discarding 
others
-in short, of human actions that are always creative in the fact of changing circumstancesÉ
(Lee & 
Smagorinsky, 2003)
.Ó!!!(F! CHAPTER 2: Introduction to the Study 
   In this chapter I will introduce the study, describing its ration
ale, goals, theoretical 
framework, and potential significance to the learners, educators, and activists in working 
together in cities worldwide. As background to my study, my own lived experience as Black as 
well as my extensive review of scholarly literat
ure has led me to a particular stance that both 
colors and animates research. For example, in recent years disparities in school learning 
opportunities across socioeconomic groups have moved literacy educators to examine studentsÕ 
discussion of text outsid
e of schools 
(Staples, 2009; Wissman, 2007)
. In the area
s of policy and 
practice, learning outside school is studied and seen as one means of connecting with preteens 
around authentic academic learning (e
.g., literacy, science) to remedy the educational debt by 
investing more time, energy, and resources into ex
tended literacy learning opportunities for 
urban students, who may identify with historically disenfranchised communities 
(Angela 
Calabrese Barton & Edna Tan, 2010; Brooks, 2006; Gibson, 2010; Kynard, 2010; Ladson
-Billings, 2006; Mahiri, 2004; S. Smith, 1997)
. Researching teaching and learning in this context 
both attu
nes educators to their adolescent learners in new ways and affords ways for re
-thinking 
school literacy. It also serves to introduce educators to ways that text, identity, and culture 
influence the out of school reading experiences of the heterogeneous lea
rner population in cities 
(Moje, Dillon, & OÕBrien
, 2000; Paris, 2012; Winn, 2010)
.   Teacher educators such as Alvermann (2001) suggest that urban studentsÕ identities as 
readers have been largely decided for them in deficit terms, meaning that some groups, i.e
., are 
expected to have literacy learning d
eficits. In reading these scholarsÕ work and conducting the 
!!(E!pilot research (Carey, under review) it inspired, I have further come to wonder whether this 
mischaracterization not only prevents schools from helping all students reach their full potential 
as l
iterate citizens, but also that thinking this way presents educators from seeing the full scope 
of the emotional, social, and cultural identity analyses that these students engage when they read.
 Because these beliefs are sedimented in the culture of schoo
ls and schooling, they are 
powerful factors influencing the attitudes of those who choose to enter the teaching profession, 
thus perpetuating beliefs that truncate the possibility of more just and equal education 
(Duncan
-Andrade, 2004; Flori
o-Ruane, 2001; Lee, 2007; Morrell, 2004)
. For this reason, teacher 
educators have long called for an explicit, complex examination of culture in curriculum and 
instruction 
(Florio
-Ruane,
 1994; Ladson
-Billings, 1992)
. While pedagogies of youth popular 
culture (Duncan
-Andrade, 2004) and critical literacy (Morrell, 2007) illuminate effective 
practices for urban teachers, fewer educational researchers have documented how these teens 
define c
ulturally
-sustaining texts and use literacy practices to identify themselves in and out of 
school (Kinloch, 2011; Kirkland, 2011; Morrell, 2002, 2007; Paris, 2009, 2012; Winn, 2011). 
According to Paris (2012) culturally
-sustaining pedagogies are those that
 Òseek[s] to perpetuate 
and foster
Ñto sustain
Ñlinguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic 
project of schooling (93).Ó This kind of valuing studentsÕ identity is tied to recognizing how they 
experience culture, and especially, the
 ways they experience culture in terms of shared meaning 
and practices within a group. This dissertation continues the line of research described above, 
focusing
 on one group of preteen, African American females as they encounter African 
American young adu
lt fiction. This study asks broadly, ÒHow do African American adolescent 
young women enact and negotiate raced and gendered identities through their reading 
experiences?Ó 
 !!C)!   ELA in Urban Contexts: Open Court, Open Minds?
   Increasingly scripted English La
nguage Arts curricula such as Open Court in classrooms 
stifle the voices of elementary school youngsters and preteens for expressing their views on texts 
beyond standardized assessments 
(Jaeger, 2013)
. Yet these voices are the only ones that can t
ell teacher educators if, how, when, and which texts are important to their identities as raced, 
gendered, and cultured readers. Moreover, using their voices to talk about text in ways that 
enhance comprehension and critical response is something that must
 be planned for by the 
teacher and used and practiced by learners. It is, in and of itself, both a process to be learned and 
a site for learning from text 
(Raphael, Florio
-Ruane, Kehus, Hasty, & Highfield, 2001)
. This 
studyÕs book club provided one such site, in the hopes of capturing the contours of this process 
through the girls discourse. 
 With this problem in mind, this
 dissertation turns to a context less constrained by 
contemporary educational policy and practice in order to create a space in which to study teensÕ 
negotiation of identity in their talk about texts. Although it takes place within the informal setting 
of 
an after school book club for girls, the study is intended to enrich and challenge the current 
conversation about the aims of literacy education in our nationÕs schools.
 Traditionally book clubs have meant spaces to center students around group discussion 
of 
books, especially full
-length works of literature (Raphael & McMahon, 1994; Daniels, 2002; 
Mahon et al, 1997). I expand this notion of book clubs by including lyrics, movies, T.V shows, 
Tweets, Facebook statuses, and magazines as texts. For this project
, I consider the role of the 
extra
-curriculum, or purposeful learning in informal education spaces 
(Ruggles
-Gere, 2001)
, as a 
!!C(!cont
ext for the voices of participants. I then analyze the girlsÕ talk about self and texts, and 
discuss findings related to their emotional, social, and cultural meaning
-making. I close the 
dissertation with a consideration of how students ÒidentityÓ talk in 
concert with text can help 
teacher educators and beginning teachers
 to explore shared meaning
-making at the intersections 
of race, gender, and literacy.
  Title
 Author
 Selected By
 Date
  The Skin IÕm In
 Sharon Flake
 Researcher
 Oct-Nov
 More Spice than Sugar
  Lillian Morrison
 Girls
 Dec The Road to Paris
 Jacquiline Woodson
 Girls
 Jan Copper Sun
 Sharon Draper
 Researcher
 Feb-March
 If You Come Softly
 Jacquiline Woodson
 Girls
 April
-May Table 
1: Books Read in Book Club
  Literacy and Ident
ity in the ÒExtra
-curriculumÓ 
  In this study, identity talk is conceptualized as the explicit construction of raced and 
gendered identities discussed, narrated, drawn, and written by a group of African
-American 
adolescent females, who represent a small an
d important slice of the heterogeneity of urban 
learners. This dissertation explores how the negotiation of intersectional raced and gendered 
identities through reading, writing, and discussion may provide these students with space to 
explore, critique, an
d possibly transform the representations of African American young women 
in and across texts (Crenshaw, 1991).
 !!CC!Historically, the extra
-curriculum has been conceptualized as a space where those people 
who are excluded from formal learning situations come to
gether in pursuit of skills, knowledge, 
and through literacy practices, engage in the work of Òdefining their own cultural identityÓ (Gere, 
1997). In this study, the extra
-curriculum is an after school text club, which I modeled after 
traditional book club
s which use literature as the focal point of discussion. I extended the role of 
ÒtextÓ to music and images in order to more fully capture the kinds of texts the girls encounter 
and produce. Because the purpose of this study is to explore identity across te
xts, the materials of 
the club are focused on African American culture, and specifically that of the narratives of teen 
black girls, as written by Black women.
 One of the tensions this work addresses is the paucity of theoretical and methodological 
tools f
or exploring, naming, and examining Black girlsÕ lived realities and literacy practices as 
they engage in cultural work to define themselves. In this project, I chose to study Black girls, in 
part because of this neglect, and in part to begin fashioning be
tter tools to study Black girls. As 
the analysis of discourse in my study will show, the girls in this study enact identities in 
narratives and from perspectives permeated with age
-based/specific understandings of race, 
gender, and stereotypes about Black 
Women as they read texts. To describe these 
understandings, I use the term ÒCritical Girlhood LiteraciesÓ or CGL. This term references a 
theoretical framework based on recognizing the raced
-gendered resources Black girls and other 
girls of color bring to t
he reading experience, activating these resources through engagement 
with texts, and emphasizing the social, emotional, and cultural work their analyses engage (see 
chapter seven.) 
 Taking the theoretical stance that identity is neither static nor ascribed
 but rather is 
negotiated and continuously created by people in their talk and action in context, I think of the 
!!C%!discussion of literature as an example of literacy as one stage on which identities are performed. 
I speak of acting on a stage as a metaphor f
or the public performance of identity. I am not 
thinking of enacting oneÕs identity as performance of a predetermined role, as in a script. Instead, 
identity is more like a performance of stories of the self negotiated in interaction with others, as 
in imp
rovisation 
(Gee, 2008)
. The ReadinÕ Sistahs 
book club
 I create
d for the purpose of this 
study
-sets up an activity setting where students are invited to come together in various 
engagements with text, which may or may not interrupt the performance of their school 
identities. This club is conceptualized as a place of kitchen table literacies, or
 extracurricular 
informal discussions by community members where school
-based literacy practices are 
reclaimed for personal ends through participation in shared meaning
-making within a group of 
practice 
(Gere & Robbins, 1996)
. This space is also a place where Òidentity eventsÓ can take 
place 
(Wortham, 2005)
, and where there are instances in discussions on texts that identify 
individuals in socio
-culturally specific ways within the shared community of practice. 
Exploration of the extracurricular site can lead to the illumination of critical c
onnections these 
youth make to texts, thus providing teacher educators with deeper insight into their meaning
-making literacy strategies. The text club, the temporal, physical and social site of this text
-talk, 
occurred during the studentsÕ after
-school ac
tivities period over the course of one academic year.
  Talk, Text, and Testing the Boundaries of Culture and Identity
   In this dissertation, the girlsÕ discursive identity work is important primarily because it 
extends the boundaries of prior and current 
conceptions of culture and identity in literacy 
practices, especially as they relate to preteen Black young women in urban English learning 
!!CD!contexts. For example, identity scholarship in literacy uses the metaphor of literacy as a narrative 
or story 
(Moje & Luke, 2009)
. However, it
 has y
et to be used with 
an explicit focus on how these 
stories map onto larger, hegemonic discourses about African American women, and more 
specifically, their representations in childrenÕs/YA media.  
Delgado and Stefancic 
(Delgado & 
Stefancic, 2001)
 suggest Òempowered groups long ago established a host of stories, narrative
s, 
conventions, and understanding that today, through repetition, seem natural and true. (135)Ó 
These narratives are rooted in socio
-cultural contexts, and dynamics of power, privilege, and 
oppression. Upon critical interrogation, these stories are reveale
d to have explicit ties to what 
Carol Lee (2003) calls Òfolk theories about groups in the human family that are inextricably tied 
to the relationship of power and dominanceÓ (4). It is for this reason that I presented the girls in 
the book club with texts 
that tell non
-hegemonic stories about Black young women, and 
encouraged to dialogue about what these stories represent, to whom, in what context, and for 
what purpose.
  Because scholars have suggested that stories are an important site of deep meaning
-maki
ng, it is imperative to focus on the ways cultural narratives such as those about preteen 
Black readers, about childrenÕs literature, about Black femininity, connect with one another in 
inter
-textual ways, i.e
., text
-text; text
-reader; reader
-reader; hegem
onic narratives
- counter
-narratives (Gee, 2008). Educators and learners have used book clubs as a means to challenge 
deficit narratives of marginalized groups, such as womenÕs writing groups in 18th century 
literary societies (Gere, 1987), and to uncover e
xperienced and beginning teachersÕ views on 
culture (Florio Ruane, 2001). While it is challenging to find contexts in which to prompt 
alternative stories about marginalized groups in teacher education, where deeply held cultural 
narratives are widely share
d, tacitly held, and self
-perpetuating, aforementioned research has 
!!CG!attempted to do so by both texts and discussions oriented to exploration of difference. The study 
reported here also attempts to create such a context to foster critical literacy among its
 members, 
but it also affords teachers and teacher educators who read this report to learn about the varied 
perspectives of students about whom they might otherwise generalize for lack of knowledge 
about their narratives or one instance to do so. 
  A key f
eature of book clubs is duration, which gives them the opportunity to examine 
multiple texts in and through time. Without the inter
-textual focus, it is difficult to explore the 
research questions addressed in this study, such as how young women of color e
nact/perform 
their raced and gendered identities through engaging with these representations and stories, as 
this dissertation does. Without asking such questions, the widespread under theorization on this 
population continues unchecked, thus rendering the
 literacy needs of these young women 
unaddressed.
 By emphasizing identity as a constant negotiation between text and reader in a 
community of practice and as a social construct, the discursive identity work detailed in this 
study seeks to equip learners wi
th a means to interrogate explanations of who African American 
women and girls currently are, how they came to be, and in the future, who they may become, 
especially as it relates to their identities as learners, readers, and writers (Adams et al., 2013; 
Tatum, 2008). Taking the historic and current narratives of the Black female community into 
account, the discursive identity work in this dissertation seeks to illuminate a specific avenue for 
these teens to express their understandings of culturally
-sustai
ning texts and to exercise 
emancipatory critical literacies, as indicated by prior critical English Education research (Bitz, 
2009; Boyd et al., 2006; Brooks & McNair, 2009; Ladson
-Billings, 2009; Lee, 2003, 2007; 
Morrell, 2004b, 2007). In addition, Florio
-Ruane (2001) suggested that complex notions of 
!!C&!culture, while
 imperative to understanding the nature of learning and teaching, often go 
unaddressed in teacher education, where the tendency is to define and study culture in more 
static, descriptive ways. 
 To respond to this need, more nuanced, interactive research is needed 
which is specifically focused on how culture
-sharing groups, such as African American 
adolescent young women, negotiate raced and gendered identities through their reading 
experiences.
  Theoretical Framework & Review of Literature
  In this study, I ask how analysis of the text
-related discourse of negotiation 
African 
American female young wome
n in a book club can provide 
a window on their negotiation of 
identities as readers, as young wom
en, and as African Americans. I am investigating in this 
participatory, qualitative study the expression of raced and gendered reading ideologies, defined 
as beliefs about who reads what text for what purpose, of one group of African American young 
women (
Kirkland, 2012). Because I am looking at discourse in the same group over time and 
texts, I also investigate change or development within and among participants as they speak 
about who they are in response both to what they have read and what they and othe
rs have talked 
about in response. 
 This inquiry in terms of both its topic and its methods is critical to understanding how to 
prepare urban English teachers because these students are an integral part of urban classrooms, 
and may have literacy needs conne
cted to their particular social location that, without looking at 
race and gender simultaneously, literacy educators may overlook, thereby leaving these learnersÕ 
literacy needs unaddressed. Within the definition of identity on which this study builds, ora
l and 
!!C'!written stories are the units of analysis, and they operate as avenues through which socio
-cultural 
processes of identifying are theorized to occur (Moje et al, 2009). 
 Because of its foregrounding the political and dialogic nature of identity constr
uction and 
representation, the area of scholarship informing the concept of intersectional identity work used 
in this study is Critical Race Feminism (Wing, 2000), or CRF. This is a critical socio
-cultural 
theory that simultaneously considers race and gend
er as fundamental lenses of analysis of the 
lived exp
eriences of females of color. 
The voices, stories, and experiences of women of color are 
central foci of CRF. For this reason, it is a potentially powerful
 tool for examining and gaining 
insight into the
 identity constructions of African American female teens, especially by 
negotiation among possible selves available in their own personal narratives, those of their peers, 
and those available in texts (literary and otherwise). Specifically, since
 CRF is at
tuned to the 
joined issues of race and gender, it has the potential to show literacy research when, where, and 
how these identities manifest themselves in the reading expe
rience. Finally, because
 CRF is 
attuned to the narratives of Black women, it is a the
oretical framework useful for examining 
stories coming from the perspectives of Black women, although it is limited in its considerate of 
age. With its focus on voice, CRF provides space to explore the narratives, including the 
emotional, developmental
-soc
ial, cultural dimensions of the stories of Black adolescent young 
women.
 Historically, African American women have developed epistemologies centered on 
understanding the world from our triply marginalized (in terms of race, gender, and class) social 
locati
on (Wing, 2009)
. From this position, Black female experiences are plural and are open to 
multiple possibilities and interpretations. To highlight the possible 
intersections, Wing (2009) 
suggests that,
 !!CF!ÒI would reprise DuBoisÕ refrain (Ôthe problem of th
e twentieth century would be 
the problem of the color lineÕ) for the new century and state that the problems of 
this century will continue to be race and ethnicity, but compounded with a 
heightened awareness of gender, class, disability, and sexual orientatio
n. (p.4)Ó  One of the less
-studied axes of these intersections is age, which is a crucial component to 
how the girls in this study see themselves, and read the texts around them. Along with these 
experiences, Black girls in schools have developed strategie
s such as what Koonce calls 
Talking 
With An Attitude
 (Koonce, 2012) in order to be heard in classrooms and settings that might 
otherwise overlook us. What Koonce (2012) means by this term is that the discourse around 
Black girls is rarely framed in ways th
at see them as the receiver rather than perpetrator of 
micro
-aggressions. This idea is important to my study is that it highlights the needs for educators 
need to pivot to understand the perspective of Black girls in adolescence, and their reasons for 
perc
eived acts of Ôdisobedience.Õ
 Commenting
 on the ways in which African American women are largely absent from 
discussions of identity, scholar and cultural critic bell hooks suggested that 
ÒNo other group in 
America has so had their identity socialized out 
of existence as have black women...When black 
people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men; and when women are talked about 
the focus tends to be on white womenÓ (
hooks, 1996, p.6
).  CRF (Wing, 2000) addresses this 
sentiment by positing that 
the experiences of African American women are distinct from those of 
African American men and White women, and therefore worthy of a separate theoretical space. 
 CRF derived from Critical Race Theory (Dixson and Rousseau, 2005), or CRT, a socio
-cultural th
eory of race and racism, and Black Feminist Thought 
 (Collins, 2000), or BFT, a socio
-!!CE!cultural theory of Black womanhood. Looking at the issue of raced and gendered reading 
ideologies through a CRF lens allows educational researchers to see instances where
 identity 
markers such as race and gender are not discrete categories, but are mutually intertwined in 
studentsÕ interpretations of themselves, their texts, and the world around them. Thus, a 
theoretical framework which focuses explicitly on the experienti
al knowledge and stories of 
African American women, such as Critical Race Feminism (CRF), is appropriate for examining 
questions of raced and gendered identity development in African American adolescent young 
women through their engagement with literature.
   Research Questions
  The challenges of preparing urban English teachers are many. In this dissertation, I explore the 
role of race, gender, and identity in the reading experiences of one group of African American 
young women. Due to the lack of stories a
bout Black women in research and theory, I chose the 
texts for book club for their potential to prompt discussion of that nature and intersection of race 
and gender. This study asks broadly, ÒHow do African American adolescent young women 
question, analyze
, and interpret raced and gendered identities through their reading and text 
discussion experiences?Ó Specifically, using critical discourse analysis to interpret these 
studentsÕ constructions of race and gendered identities, the proposed dissertation seek
s to address 
the following questions:
 1)             What is the nature of black girlsÕ reading and discussion of African
-centered 
and female
-centered texts in an after
-school book club?
 !!%)!2)              Through engagement with these texts and one anotherÕs
 ideas in conversation, 
how do the young women define what researchers call,
 Òculturally relevantÓ 
literatures?
 3) What do these engagements tell us about how identity and text interact in the 
reading experiences of female black adolescents and in their ne
gotiations of 
identity as Black young women?
  Thus my dissertation research emerges out of and is part of an interdisciplinary 
conversation in several fields, including English Education and Black WomenÕs Studies, and 
perhaps an emerging Black Girl Studies
 (Brown, 2009).
 Critical Race Feminism: Critical Race Theory Meets Black Feminist Thought
  CRFÕs focus on the idea that peopleÕs identities exist at the intersections of interacting 
social markers such as race, class, and gender, was deeply influenced by B
lack Feminist Thought 
(BFT). Collins (2000) argued that the oppressions of race and gender are mutually
-constructed, 
intersecting systems of power that hold up White supremacist capitalism in the U.S, and that 
controlling images of Black womanhood are impl
icated in this ideology, or matrix of 
domination. Elite groups exercise power by manipulating images of Black womanhood through 
stereotypes, or specifically, in the case of Black women, controlling images such as Mammy, 
Jezebel, and Sapphire as anti
-femini
ne. 
 ChildrenÕs literature has historically used these tropes to distort images of Black women 
as ÒMammy,Ó a largely sexless character who lacks any sensuality or sexuality. This trope is 
embodied in childrenÕs literature through characters such as ÒMammyÓ
 in the Blue Magic series 
of the publication St. Nicholas, whose over
-protectiveness of her White charge is demonstrated 
!!%(!on a trip to the Nile. Mammy states, ÒLawdy, Lawdy! One of dem heathen men! Hyah, you! Git 
out ob here! Did nÕI allus says dis was a on
natchel lanÕ?... Oh, Massa Fen! Honey chile, doanÕt 
let dat air E
-gypshun critter tech you!Ó (Sims
-Bishop, 2007, 24). It should be noted that the 
exaggerated version of African American Language used by some White writers to 
ÔdemonstrateÕ the ignorance of 
African Americans is used here to depict Mammy as 
unintelligent, as well. Sims
-Bishop suggests that the use of this trope indicates Òthe persistent 
presence of stereotyped images of Blacks and assumptions of natural superiority of whites that 
lingered in o
ne form of another in childrenÕs literature through at least the first five or so decades 
of the twentieth centuryÓ (Sims
-Bishop, 2007, p. 24). The use of tropes to negatively characterize 
African American women has a long, and yet recent, history in child
renÕs literature.
   Connecting Theory, Practice, and Methods: Framing the Research Questions
  I connected these theories to the texts and activities of the book club in a variety of ways, 
beginning with the questions I used to frame the research project. I
 asked this set of questions 
because of my reflexive stance as a researcher, my prior research project on Black girls and 
Cinderellas (Carey, under review) and because in reviewing the research literature, these 
questions arose as not yet fully described, 
analyzed, or answered. These three questions are 
grounded in the complex educational problems facing Black girls  (i.e, deficit framing of Black 
and Brown readers, teachersÕ lack
-oriented cultural beliefs, negative perceptions of students from 
communities 
that have been marginalized, overlooking the intersections of race and gender in 
Black girlsÕ school experiences, and especially misunderstandings of some Black girlsÕ behaviors 
in response to disrespect at school and misrepresentations in literature) to t
he theoretical 
!!%C!frameworks discussed above. In doing so, they focus the study on the book club girlsÕ voices and 
position the project to expand the research literature on Black girlsÕ educational experiences. 
  I decided to center the first research questio
n on description of the intersections of race, 
gender, and age, based on the CRT principle of endemic racism, or that racism is an organic part 
of American life, and the CRF principle of intersectionality. This question is also grounded in the 
educational 
problem of describing the literacies and literature of urban adolescents beyond the 
terminology of deficit. In terms of the design of the study, the first question centers the issue of 
culture, and signals that the study is qualitative in nature, and furth
er uses ethnographic tools to 
investigate shared meanings. In constructing the first question as reflective of theory, practice, 
and method, I wanted to capture the sense of what these intersections are like in the context of 
adolescentsÕ literacy practice
s in an after
-school, informal learning space.
 The second research question connects the theory of culturally
-sustaining pedagogy to 
Black girls. In order to get at issues of perspective and to respect the p
lurality of studentsÕ 
knowledge
 and group members
hips, I was careful to frame the question in terms of the girlÕs 
perceptions and ideas. Because of the educational problem of the paucity of research on black 
girls, I wanted to ensure that the girlsÕ voices were central to the project.  Without focusing i
n on 
the girlÕs ideas in an explicit manner, the project would risk talking over the students, instead of 
being an amplifier for their voices. I did this because the voices of young people, especially 
young women of color, need a distinct avenue to be hear
d. The third research question is 
grounded in the educational problem of mis
-representing Black femininity in physical school 
spaces, as well as in the curriculum.
  !!%%! Figure 
4: CRT vs CRF
  Design of the Study: 
 Ethnographic Tools M
eet Discourse Analysis
  To best answer my afor
ementioned research questions,
 this study is located in the 
ethnographic research tradition, within the scope of qualitative research. In education, qualitative 
methods are used to explore and describe topics o
f interest. Several characteristics typify 
qualitative research, especially in the tradition of ethnography: a naturalistic setting, the 
researcher as instrument, centering on participantsÕ meanings, and the uses of multiple data 
sources, inductive data an
alysis, and emergent design to arrive at a holistic and interpretive 
account of problem under study (Creswell, 2009). 
 There are multiple approaches to qualitative inquiry, including ethnography, which is 
most appropriate to this study because of the empha
sis on describing the reading experiences of 
one cultural group, i.e
., African American female adolescents aged 10
-13. Within education, 
there are three major approaches to ethnography: doing ethnography, which is meeting a 
!!%D!particular disciplineÕs criterio
n for doing ethnography from framing and conceptualizing to 
writing and reporting, adopting an ethnographic perspective, in other words, using theories of 
culture from anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, sociolinguistics or education, and using 
ethn
ographic tools, or utilizing interviews, sound recordings, document content analysis, and 
time-activity charts (Green & Bloom, 1997, p.121). 
 Because my research questions, design, and analysis center on understanding what the 
reading experience is like fr
om the perspective of African American females adolescents in an 
urban school within the culture
-focused frame of CRF, this study is best described as using 
ethnographic tools. Further, because my research questions are informed by a desire to know 
more ab
out the schooling experiences of African American female adolescents in order to the 
address the institutional and curricular challenges of schools, it is an Òethnography in education,Ó 
rather than an Òethnography of educationÓ. Ethnographies in education 
are studies situated in the 
field of education that seek to inform education practitioners, researchers, and policy makers, 
rather than ethnographies of education, which seek to understand the effects of the education 
process in systemic terms (Heath and S
treet, 2008).
 The ResearcherÕs Role  
  Ethnography seeks to answer the question of ÒWhat is happening here at the field site I 
have chosen?Ó (Heath and Street, 2008, p.121). 
 In addition, ethnographies ÒÉaim to describe 
human behavior holistically, as it o
ccurs naturally within social and cultural contextsÓ (Purcell
-Gates, in Duke & Mallette, 2004). Black feminist theorists argue that the status of African 
American women within the academy grants the position of the Òoutsider within,Ó which 
Òprovide{s} a sp
ecial standpoint on self, family and society for Afro
-American womenÓ 
!!%G!(Collins, 1986). In conducting research, this position is useful in that it can allow participants to 
confide in a person that is an outsider more than if that person were located within
 the 
community, to see patterns that insiders might not see, and to engage in a type of objectivity 
involving being both close and far from participants (Simmel, 1921, in Collins, 1996). With 
respect to these individuals, I am an insider, in that I identif
y as an African
-American female, 
and I am an outsider, in that I am from Virginia rather than Detroit, ten to fifteen years older than 
my participants, and a graduate student.
 As a full participant and observer, I will be the facilitator of the book club, 
and so 
responsible for book selection, read
-alouds, facilitating discussion, and providing prompts for 
writing assignments. 
 The book club will be part of a student organization at Midwestern 
University
[1]
 focused on mentoring middle school girls from a K
-8 school in a large urban center 
in the Midwest. The organization was founded in 2006 and is directed by a professor in the 
English department. Some of the objectives of the program include, through mentor interactions 
with Black female undergraduate and g
raduate students, exposing young Black females to an 
array of educational, cultural, and artistic opportunities, building healthy self
-concepts, esteem, 
and refinement among participants; and promoting accessibility of higher education and 
increasing aware
ness of various career opportunities among participants. While I am no longer 
the graduate coordinator, it was in my capacity as graduate coordinator of this program that I 
first met the girls became co
-constructors 
of my research. I subsequently 
became a 
regular part 
of their school setting as did the after school book club I started to help me research their talk 
about texts and identity.
   !!%&!Setting & Context of the Book Club
  The book club met once a week over a period of one year. 
 In August, I made cont
act with the principle, in order to make regular visits to the school in order to become more familiar 
with the school setting and experiences of the young women. Following contact, the principal 
and I agreed on the reading list, and craft a contact letter
 to parents making them aware of the 
study, which went home with the letters of informed consent for both parents and students.
 Book Club Procedures
  On the Mondays when Book Club occurs, I conducted three hours of classroom 
observations focused on the ele
ctive literacy practices of the girls, including note
-taking, hand
-clapping songs, and passing letters, in one sixth
-grade classroom where most of the participants 
have their English Language Arts lessons. At times, teachers asked me to pass out papers, wa
lk 
students to the principalÕs office, or call out spelling words for a spelling bee, and I became more 
of a participant in the classroom at these times than an observer.
 After my observation, I hung out in the hall and corralled students into the classroo
m designated for the book club by the schoolÕs director of after
-school programs. Because students 
have an after
-school snack time in the school cafeteria, they arrived at the book club by 3:45p
.m.,
 following a 3:30p
.m.,
 dismissal. To start the book club s
essions, I displayed the covers of picture 
books and novels featuring African American and African women, and I asked them to write 
short responses to questions such as: ÒWhat is going on in this picture? How do you know? How 
is this similar/different from
 your experiences?Ó After this five to ten minute writing assignment, 
we had group read
-a-louds for the day, which lasted about fifteen to twenty minutes, and 
followed up with discussion on what we read, which lasted for twenty
-five to forty
-five minutes. 
!!%'!Following this, students were asked to draw their interpretations or thoughts on the reading 
selections, either on the blackboard or with crayons and paper. In some instances, we analyzed 
lyrics, as a follow up to our reading discussions, before having fre
e reading selection, and ten
-fifteen minutes of quiet reading with music, clean
-up and snacks before leaving for the day.
 The book club framework was inspired by the BookClubPLUS (BCP) (Raphael & Florio
-Ruane, George, Smith, Compton
-Lily, 2001) model, whic
h is based on three criteria:
 (1)  It guides rather than prescribes;
 (2)  it addresses a common problem but is open to local adaptation; and
 (3)  it reflects current theory and research on the teaching and learning of literacy.
       This model also might 
be characterized as Òsustained, dialogic, and inter
-textualÓ 
(Raphael & Florio
-Ruane, 2001, p.3) in that it is based on the Vygotskian notion that learning 
begins in the social interactions of the learner, that Òlanguage use is fundamental to thinkingÓ, 
and that there is value in the idea of Òincreasing the role of literature in reading instruction.Ó 
Literature is understood to mean Òwritten text genres of literary quality as well as expository 
genres such as textbooks and brochures and transactional ones s
uch as Internet documents.Ó For 
the purposes of this study, I expand the 
notion of literature to include 
media, specifically those 
narratives expressed in popular music lyrics, on TV, and in internet blogs, Tweets, or magazine 
images. In the context of thi
s study, the book club was student
-centered and teacher
-facilitated. 
This means that I was a participant as well as a guide, and I engaged with students in activities 
such as working in small groups, dyads, or individually in our literary excursions. 
 BCP 
holds 
that ÒliteratureÉprovides a vehicle for exploring our culture and society,Ó and it also suggests 
that the co
ntent of said literature should 
Òprepare students to live and work in a diver
se !!%F!democratic societyÓ (Hiebert, 
1991, p.4). Because the collecti
ve exploration of literature is a 
window into the lives of others and a mirror on our own, it has great potential as a medium for 
developing not only identity and culture, but also critical thinking about these topics. 
 This was 
one reason I chose texts 
which were written by African American women about the period of 
adolescence for the girls.
         Structurally, BCP is organized into three units, which fall under the theme of ÒOur 
Storied Lives.Ó In Unit One, called ÒStories of the Self,Ó the focus is on
 autobiography and the 
many ways authors choose to reflect on their lives. For this study, texts in this unit were focused 
on short poems and songs, excerpted from books such as More Spice than Sugar: Poems about 
Feisty Females, by Lillian Morrison, and in
cluded Nikki GiovanniÕs The Drum, and Women by 
Alice Walker. We also analyzed the lyrics of Nina SimoneÕs ÒFour Women.Ó The girls chose this 
book from a selection of poetry collections I showed them in our opening section, when we 
discussed what kinds of b
ooks weÕd like to read together in book club. While student activities in 
this unit can include making timelines of their lives to identify crucial events, writing personal 
narratives about these critical events, and an autobiography or obituary, we wrote 
some poetry of 
our lives. For the book club, we settled on making Bio
-Poems, which were short, formulaic 
poems centered on names and adjectives. In these examples, notice the wide range of adjectives 
the girls use to describe themselves. While often repres
ented as Òloud,Ó Òtough,Ó
 or ÒunrulyÓ in 
the research literature, the girlsÕ perceptions of themselves are couched in markedly varied terms, 
to create robust depictions of themselves (Fordham, 1994; Evans
-Winters, 2005). In 
characterizing themselves as, Òd
aughter,Ó Òkind,Ó and ÒsisterÓ the girls begin to reveal 
themselves as family
-oriented, which is only one facet of their multiple identities. In doing so, 
!!%E!they demonstrate the complexity of how they see themselves, and how they interpret the 
difference in 
how other people see them.
 The second unit is called ÒFamily StoriesÓ and centers on the idea that oneÕs identity as 
an individual is intertwined with a family narrative, which can be a springboard for author study. 
For this study, texts used in this unit 
included 
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
 and 
The Land
 by Mildred. D Taylor; 
The Skin IÕm In
 by Sharon Flake; and 
The Road to Paris
, by Nikki Grimes. 
The students liked Nikki Grimes so much that we added a book, 
 I HadnÕt Meant to Tell You 
This
, to our book cl
ub reading list, in order to more deeply discuss issues of family, friends, and 
the ties girls made between them. While student activities in this unit can include students 
interviewing family members of their grandparentsÕ generation, writing a family sto
ry to share or 
making an oral presentation in a family artifact, in book club we decided to conduct short 
interviews in order to make bio
-poems of family members, to find out what was similar and 
different between us and our family members.
 The final unit,
 ÒStories of Culture,Ó focused on narratives of African American culture. 
Our last book club text was 
Copper Sun
 by Sharon Draper, and because we added a book to the 
previous unit, we werenÕt able to finish it, or start on 
Kindred
 by Octavia Butler. What w
e did 
read of 
Copper Sun
 was helpful for understanding the African heritage of the people who were 
enslaved, the connections that remained in African American culture, and what survival in the 
context of slavery involved for adolescent Black girls. The boo
k helped us to contextualize, 
compare, and contrast their family stories with wider stories of African American culture. While 
activities for students can include writing essays about their familyÕs histories, in book club we 
also focused on discussing and
 drawing the different versions of African American womanhood 
presented through each narrative. Through all three units, students had discussion, read alouds, 
!!D)!writing, silent reading time, journaling, and writers workshops, in order to explore the full ran
ge 
of literacy and literacy skills needed to participate fully and critically in the modern, information
-based economy.
 Actors
  Developmentally, the participants range from the beginning to middle of adolescence, a 
period where young people begin to identi
fy, rank, and decide which aspects of their identities 
are most salient to the person they want to become as an adult. Although there were between ten 
and twelve seventh
-grade girls who showed up to book club, I chose to focus on the six who 
attended most 
regularly as the focal participants for this study. These six girls were open in 
sharing the details of their reading, writing, viewing, and social lives with me in book club. They 
were not all in the same class, but share the same grade
-level and came tog
ether in book club. 
For chubby
-cheeked Keisha, the book club was a space to share her writing (especially her 
poetry) and talk about becoming an author and a fashion designer. Monica, an outgoing former 
cheerleader, had aspirations of being a teacher (so s
he could Ôyell at kids all dayÕ). In book club, 
she was an avid doodler, who liked to illustrate our texts. Ebony, a self
-professed Ômanga
-loverÕ 
who liked to read books on drawing manga and on Japanese culture, was often the first to share 
her writings. J
asmine was a shy basketball player whose favorite part of book club was choosing 
her free
-reading books and talking with her friends. Ashley, cousins with Keisha, was an upbeat 
singer, who wanted to be a performer when she grew up, and liked the snacks in 
book club. 
LaToya was our resident fashionista who aspired to be a fashion designer and a lawyer, and 
preferred audio books for free reading. These participants all attend an African
-centered K
-8 school where they are exposed to a curriculum which respects
 the contributions of African 
Americans and Africans as much as those of Europeans. Students are immersed in different 
!!D(!aspects of African culture, such as using Ki
-Swahili greetings, and starting the school day with 
Hirambe, a community morning meeting to 
share good news, such as victories in sports or 
birthdays, and to announcing upcoming events such as field trips, dances, tests, parentsÕ events, 
and writing contests. Some participants live with their parents, some with other relatives, and all 
live withi
n the catchment area of the school. Engaging with these participants allowed me to 
answer my research questions in several ways. First, because these young women are on the 
precipice of adulthood, it is a relevant time to explore how identities such as rac
e and gender 
come together or are contested. Second, these participants are immersed in an African
-centered 
school, within a largely African American city setting, which may give them greater access to 
narratives of African American women. Finally, these p
articipants helped to answer my research 
questions because of their perspectives as young women of color who are not often heard in the 
research literature, and thus they will provide us with intersectional insights from this social 
location that other gro
ups of young women cannot. In the next section, I will describe how 
collecting data with these participants enabled me to answer my research questions. 
  Data Collection Techniques & Sources of Data
  In this section, I describe the data collection techniqu
es I will use in the study, beginning 
with a short chart (see also Appendix A), which precedes descriptions of each technique and its 
role in the study. As displayed in the chart below, the central data collecting strategies will be 
video
-recording book cl
ub discussions and interviews and collecting participantsÕ written 
responses to multicultural literature. 
   !!DC!By collecting data from conversations, interviews, field notes, artifacts, and the survey, I 
was able to triangulate the data in order more reliabl
y to describe the results.
 a) Community Share:
 As part of the book club, as facilitator, I led one group read
-aloud each 
week to ask students to highlight quotes they found important in the reading, and to share my 
own quotes. After the read
-alouds, we dis
cussed the text in a group setting. The discussions 
included questions about the literary elements of the story, depictions of beauty in the story, and 
depictions of women and men in th
e story. I audio
-recorded these 
discussion, which centered 
around the f
ollowing questions: 
 (1) How are the female protagonists empowered and disempowered within the text, or 
genre? 
 (2) How are representations of Black adolescent femininity similar to and different from 
canonical texts such as Toni MorrisonÕs The Bluest Eye?
 (3) What other cultural narratives (e.g., fairy tales, hip
-hop) do these texts draw upon for 
familiarity?
 (4) What are the implications when authors reclaim derogatory representations in genres, 
such as urban street fiction? How do authors do this? Are th
ey successful?
 (5) How can we better understand the ways linguistic violence and the negotiation of 
derogatory, wounding words function inside English classrooms and interrupted critical 
consciousness (Staples, 2007, 2008b, 2008c)?
 b) Student Interviews
:  I intended to use SeidmanÕs 3
-Interview model (Seidman, 1998), I 
conducted three semi
-structured interviews with each student. Because of cancelled school days 
and irregular attendance, I did not have the opportunity for all three interviews with each stud
ent. 
Instead the focal participants had two interviews, and the non
-focal participants had one. These 
!!D%!interviews allowed me to track some changes in the participantsÕ ideas about race and gender 
over the course of the book club. The interviews were a key d
ata source, as they enabled me to 
ask the participants about their personal responses and thoughts to the texts in a more intimate 
setting. 
 I conducted semi
-structured interviews that include open
-ended questions about literacy, 
gender, and beauty, as wel
l as a short written statement focusing on their personal interpretation 
of the text. These interviews were audio
-recorded and transcribed for analysis. (See Appendix B 
for Interview Protocols.)
 c) Student Written Responses:
 I provided participants with a 
writing prompt after each group 
discussion. The written response to the discussion focused on how the participants saw 
themselves in relation to the protagonist of the story in terms of race, beauty, and authorship. 
(See Appendix C for Writing Prompts.)
 d) Observation:
 As a participant observer, I spent two hours a week observing the young women 
in the book club in their English class, looking for instances of literacy which are connected to 
their identity, and in the book club, so as to describe when and w
here the literacy practices of 
these youth are activated in the service of their academic and personal lives. (See Appendix D 
for Observation Protocol.)
 Data Analysis Procedures
 The objective of this analysis is to break the data into manageable pieces in 
order to 
answer the research questions of the study. To do so, I analyzed the data in several stages, using 
a sociocultural approach to Discourse Analysis (Gee, 2008). 
 The first stage occurred as I 
transcribed the data into stanzas and lines. As I transcr
ibed, I made note of repeated words and 
phrases that participants use in relation to issues of gender and race, as well as note my 
reflections going through the data to inductively code the data, as means of indexing and 
!!DD!organizing it. Some of the categori
es, such as race and gender, arose as they are part of my 
research questions, while others emerged organically from the data. This transcription and 
coding comprised the first stage in reducing the data to meaningful exchanges from larger 
conversations, an
d through creating codes I highlighted identity
-based literacy events, such as 
explicit discussions of African American women. This allowed me to answer questions of how 
the students describe their reading experiences.
 In the second stage, I used narrative
 vignettes to display the data, which will allow me to 
draw conclusions from it to generalize to th
eory. I displayed the data that
 appeared most 
frequently coded for, in an effort to reflect what the students talked about most, and thereby 
answer the quest
ion of how students talk about their encounters with representations of African 
American women in the texts.
 Finally, in the last stage I cycled back to the research questions to contextualize the 
answers, and describe the different constructions of race a
nd gender the young women employ in 
the book club. This allowed me to begin to generalize to theory, and thereby answer the 
questions of how African American females in an after
-school book club build and contest their 
ideas of race, gender, and identity.
 Reliability
      Data from conversations, artifacts, interviews, and field notes were checked against one 
another, in order to establish reliability between the different data sources. Triangulation refers to 
Òthe process of securing an in
-depth understand
ing of the phenomenon in question 
(Norman & 
Lincoln, 2008, p. 7)
.Ó There are several sta
ges and types of triangulation, which is essentially the 
practice of using of multiple methods of data collection, which this study does, and though using 
!!DG!several data sources to increase confidence in the findings of the research project 
(Glesne, 2006)
. This study uses triangulation in both ways; though using artifacts, participant observation, and 
interviewing to collect the data, a
nd though analyzing these data in context with one another. 
During analysis, cross
-checking multiple types of data is one way to locate both confirming and 
disconfirming evidence for research claims. In this study, I used member
-checking, long
-term 
and rep
eated visits, and peer examination to make sure the data I collected were accurate.
 According to the Seidman model, member checking is an essential part of interviewing 
and critical to the practice of triangulation 
(Seidman, 2005)
. In this study, member checking 
occurred af
ter the second interview with each focal student. I was able to ask the girls clarifying 
questions about their ideas about books, as reflected in their journals, or about statements they 
made in our group discussions. I used these interviews to further inq
uire about any unclear 
meanings. In this way, I worked with the data to ensure that they were accurate, and reflected 
what the girls wanted to say. 
          One other strategy for collecting sound qualitative data depends on the length of time 
and number 
observations trips to the field site.  Because qualitative research focuses, in part, on 
finding key informants, it is necessary to spend an extended period of time in the field in order to 
build rapport and trust with research participants 
(Creswell, 2007)
. For ethnographic work in 
literacy education, the researcherÕs task
 is Òsorting out as many connections of language and 
culture as poss
ible across recurring and defin
able situations 
(Heath & Street, 2008, p. 11)
 Ó. The 
need for reoccurring situations also demands a long period of
 data collection, typically a year in 
ethnography. This study collected data over the course of the academic year, or nine
-months, 
which gave me time to both establish rapport and to create recurring situations to observe the 
girls, thereby maintaining goo
d conditions for collecting qualitative data. Out of a planned 
!!D&!twenty trips to the research site, I made fifteen trips to the school site, due to school cancellations 
because of snow and scheduled breaks for Christmas, winter, and Easter holidays. During t
hese 
nine months, I continually analyzed the data as I collected it via researcher memos, field notes, 
and transcription notes. After I collected it all, I re
-examined it for confirming, as well as 
disconfirming, evidence to check the reliability of the in
terpretations.
  Triangulation can also happen when more than one researcher collects data, called 
investigator triangulation. Because I was the only data collector, I was not able to carry out this 
kind of triangulation. Instead, I used peer examination in
 order to better check my 
interpretations. After coding and as part of analysis, I engaged in constant conversation with 
colleagues, who challenged my conclusions and encouraged me to revisit my data. 
 In these ways, I worked with the data to ensure that t
hey, and my interpretations were  
  Coding: Induction, Deduction, and Analysis
  In this study, I used my field notes, studentsÕ artifacts, and transcripts of their written 
conversations as multiple sources of data. In analyzing the data, I inductively code
d the 
transcripts first, then field notes, then the artifacts. When themes arose, I looked across types of 
data to check the consistency of code application.
 In the first stage of thematic analysis, I listened to the group discussion sand interviews to 
transcribed
 them into Word documents, paying special attention to instances where race and 
gender were jointly discussed. After complete transcription, I carefully reviewed them with the 
audio recordings to check the validity of my transcriptions. During the 
audio
-review stage, I kept 
a journal of transcription and interview notes to inform the later stages of coding. Additionally, I 
!!D'!used the journal to monitor my stance of reflexivity to ensure accurate representation of the 
observations of the participants, 
and to keep the focus of CRF, which were intersectionality, 
voice, and narrative, at the forefront of my analysis (Glesne, 2006). By critically analyzing my 
own commitments to the book club and to my participants, I was able to reflect on how our 
interacti
ons might influence one another, both as African American females, and as adolescents 
and a young woman. After I created the transcripts, I inductively coded them in several stages. I 
did this to break the data into manageable pieces, befo
re I displayed it
 in narrative v
ignettes. 
  1st Round of Coding: Words, Phrases, and Preliminary Codes
  In the first stage of coding, I analyzed the transcripts for repeated words and phrases 
surrounding the joined topics of race and gender. Based on multiple reviews of th
e transcripts, I 
developed word lists for each preliminary code. For example, I identified one preliminary code 
as ÒRace+GenderÓ This code included references to words and phrases li
ke Òlady,Ó Ò304,Ó Ògood 
girl,Ó 
and Òho,Ó which the girls used to describe 
the girls and women in their classes, family, and 
communities. Among others, these words comprised the word list associated with the code 
ÒRace+GenderÓ. I also checked the consistency of the coding by comparing phrases and words 
that were like
-coded. This 
ensured that the most appropriate codes were consistently used for 
similar data.
 2nd Round of Coding: Sub
-Categories Emerge
  For the second round of coding, I used inductive coding to generate sub
-codes to further 
refine the major codes. Because the ÒRace+
GenderÓ category was the most frequently coded for 
in the first round of analysis, I began to look for specific instances or clusters where 
!!DF!ÒRace+Gender
-bad typeÓ was highly coded to further explore the category, and to see where it 
was connected to other 
categories such as race and gender. On closer inspection, these passages 
included additional phrases the girls used such as Ò304Ó, Òquiet,Ó ÒratchetÓ, Òlady
-like,Ó Òtomby, 
ÕÒghetto, Òtrife
-life,Ó and ÒfastÓ, which created sub
-categories such as ÒRace+Gende
r-posÓ and 
ÒRace+Gender
-neg.Ó In addition, these subcategories began to overlap with the age/development 
category, which showed me how these topics were connected through conversation. 
 Creating these subcategories indicated that gender performance was not
 simply an 
observation of another person, but also a result of specific behaviors and attitudes in addition to 
physical appearance, that the girls cast in moral terms. In the analysis stage, these subcategories 
allowed me to see where the categories overla
pped to suggest differing gender roles for African 
American women according to age in the girlsÕ conversation. 
 3rd Round of Coding: Emerging Binaries
  In the final phase of coding, I focused on locating places where the ÒRace+Gender
-pos/negÓ dichotomy sur
faced because it seemed to be the most frequent way that participants 
talked about different types of African American girls, women and ideas about Black femininity. 
In the third round of coding this dichotomy emerged as discussions of what ÒgoodÓ and Òbad
Ó women ÒdidÓ in our novels, on T.V shows, in songs and in movies.  I hoped to find a pattern in 
when and how this characterization came about in conversation, but instead found it permeated 
our conversations, forming a linkage through all of our texts.
  In using this single code, I was able to uncover that the instances where the good/bad 
contrasts were made were almost exclusively around non
-racialized topics. These topics centered 
on traditional roles for women like those of wife and mother, and the char
acteristics embodied by 
these roles, such as obedience, the importance of education, and temperament. These topics often 
!!DE!arose around discussions of differences between protagonists such as Maleeka and Paris, 
celebrity women,  and women in real life. In fa
ct, in these instances, the dialogue tended to 
center around traditional roles for women, such as that of daughter, mother, and wife. This led 
me to use these roles as sub
-categories such obedience,Ó Òimportance of education,Ó and 
ÒtemperamentÓ for the lar
ger categories such as ÒRace+Gender
-pos.Ó I used narrative vignettes 
to display the data, and drew conclusions based on the frequency of usage of each category, 
which answered the research question by showing which types of gender roles were most 
prevalent
.  I checked the strength of my interpretations throughout the analysis in several ways. 
First, triangulating the interview, discussion, and written data enabled me to cross
-check my 
interpretations and to identify disconfirming evidence (Denzin & Lincoln,
 2008). In addition, I 
engaged in on
-going conversations with colleagues in which I presented my initial analyses. My 
colleagues challenged the strength of the evidence I presented and asked me to go back to the 
data to reconsider my analyses (Glesne, 2006
). In the next chapters, I will present the findings. First, in chapter three, I will discuss what 
Òrelevant literatureÓ might mean for the book club both in terms of the social history of African 
American women in the US and also in terms of the genres ov
er which the club members 
transact. As a group infrequently studied and a need for inquiry into what Òculturally relevant 
textÓ might mean to them and in this context, I have made these topics part of my research along 
with my analyses of the actual discus
sions among participants. This background is necessary to 
understand what the following chapters describe.
 Chapters Four through Six focus on the thematic ideas arising from the development of 
analytic categories across the different types of data. These t
hemes, which answer the research 
!!G)!questions, are organized chronologically, as they emerged from the analysis. Because the first 
research question is focused on the describing the nature of the book club as a reading space, 
chapter four focuses on the girls
Õ use of literacy as an emotional tool, both in their book club 
discourse and in their at home media viewing. The second research question is concerned with 
how the girls define what is relevant or culturally
-sustaining in literature or media, and the fift
h chapter addresses this through their discussion of colorism, and their interpretations of who has 
the right to tell Black womenÕs narratives. The third research question asks what do these literacy 
engagements tell us about how race and gender influence 
the girlsÕ reading experiences, which 
chapter six addresses in its analysis of empathy as resistance. 
   !!G(! CHAPTER 3: Investigating Book Clubs: Who, What, How, and Why
  As noted previously, while this study is primarily an analysis of oral discourse, to an
swer 
my research questions and, indeed to provide resources for participants to read and discuss, I 
began my research by investigating foundations on which my study was built
Ñspecifically the 
activity setting of Òbook club,Ó the idea of culturally relevant
 texts, and the research on African 
American adolescent females as readers of canonical text and popular culture. This first findings 
chapter will extend the previous ideas by linking them current research in English Education to 
provide greater context fo
r the project. To better frame the results chapters that follow, there are 
three sections related to the three parts of my research questions
:  1) The Extra
-curriculum as a 
Stage: Book Clubs and the Politics of Exclusion;
 2) Scripts, Gazes, Production: Neg
otiating 
Identity Performance in Classrooms; and 3)
 Casting Call: Race, Gender, and the Role of 
Intersectionality in Literacy Practices.
 These sections describe how the group I started was 
deliberately designed to provide an alternate space for text
-relate
d talk among Black girls, a 
group that is marginalized in everyday life, literacy research, and especially in teacher education 
(Evans Winters, 2010)
.  Book clubs have long functioned as a stage of literacy practice, and a site of political 
resistance practiced in marginalized communities across America 
(Gere, 1997)
. In the first 
section, I give a brief overview of the history of womenÕs literary societies as precursors to 
modern book clubs. This examination led me to
 select the book club space as a research si
te, by 
providing a historically
-grounded perspective on the race
-gender politics of book clubs. In the 
second section, I examine Black Racial Identity Development 
(Decuir Gunby, 2009)
 as a lens for 
understanding racial identity development, and I exa
mine the Multiple Worlds Typology 
!!GC!(Phelan, Davidson, & Cao, 1991)
 as a lens to describe the transitions adolescents make between 
the realms of school, peers, and family. Taken together, these
 led me to envision the book club as 
a place for the girls to make connections between identity, family, and peers through texts. This 
research guided my choice of reading material for the book club, in that I focused on titles that 
would give the girls tr
action on these three issues. In the final section, I examine the role of race 
and gender in the literacy
 practices of urban teens. In reviewing gender
-based differences in 
literacy strategies, I detail my thinking for the activities I chose to engage in b
ook club. The 
investigations I report in this chapter seek to understand how urban adolescents and the extra
-curriculum have been situated in prior and current literacy research.
 Throughout this chapter, I emphasize that the role of literacy as a resistanc
e strategy. I 
reiterate that the people most involved in the extra
-curriculum are often those systematically 
denied opportunities for formal education through de facto discrimination based on sex and race, 
not sex or race (Gere, 2001). Further, for these a
ctors, literacy practices are a stage to perform 
raced and gendered identities in the extra
-curriculum, in part as resistance to this discrimination. 
I continually ask if and how Black girlsÕ critical literacies are built around an intersectional 
awareness
 of the ways race and gender influence their school lives, their family lives, and their 
representations in the media? Finally, I highlight the possibilities of the girlsÕ out of school 
literacies to redefine themselves and transform their worlds.
 The Extr
a-curriculum as a Stage: Book Clubs, Herstory, and Lifting as We Climb
  Literary circles, such as those initiated by Margaret Fuller, were places collectively to 
read, write, and discuss literatures relevant to their local cultures and communities 
(M. White, 
2005). Gere and Robbins contend that White womenÕs literature circles date bac
k to 1800, citing 
!!G%!records of meetings as evidence of literate activity in popular locations such as Boston 
(Gere & 
Robbins, 1996)
. For some New England White women, these literary circles were spaces to 
critically articulate the inequity in learning opportunities between White men and women and to 
influence socie
ty. While current studies of girlsÕ after
-school book clubs are not always 
politically
-oriented, the value of shared literacy practice remains that it Òmakes possible for 
readers to be challenged, supported, and even transformed by the interpretations, per
spectives, 
and life experiences of others 
(Park, 2012)
.Ó Historically, womenÕs literary societies were a stage to enact race as well as gender. 
However, Black women faced the distinct challenge of being seen as a racial representative 
rather than an individual
, as we can see in the case of Phillis Wheatley. In 1773, being both 
Negro and female cast doubt on her reading and writing abilities, and her work required an 
ÒAttestation,Ó for publishers to believe she wrote her own poetry 
(Gates, Jr, 1988)
. Nevertheless, 
Wheatley is considered the founder of both the Black female literary tradition and the Black 
literary tradition because of intersectionali
ty of her identities. These literary traditions have been 
mischaracterized largely as oral, which theorists such as Gates critique as implying a lack of 
logic and sustainability, thereby distancing Blackness from intellectual ability. 
 Despite this mischar
acterization, 
Ò literary
 journals,
 the
 Black
 press,
 literary
 writers,
 and
 literary
 societies,
 especially
 those
 of women,
 between
 1830 and
 1940 highly
 valued
 joint
 reading
 groups,
 creative
 writing
 efforts,
 and
 the
 role
 of literature
 in the
 lives
 of African
 Americans
 (McHenry
 & Heath,
 2001).Ó Organizations like the National Association for Colored Women, 
which was founded in 1896, also fulfilled missions of simultaneous self
-help and racial uplift in 
the Black
 community under the slogan ÒLifting as we Climb.Ó Centering on principles such as 
female achievement, self
-sufficiency, and moral living schools for Black women, the legacies of 
!!GD!Cooper, Brown, Laney, and Bourroughs remain testaments to their advocacy (McH
enry & 
Heath, 2001).
 The pressures of performing Black female identity may reside in individuals but 
collective literacy engagements across various contexts provide Black women with the chance to 
re-author the scripts of these identities. 
 The added perspe
ctives these Black women brought to their literacy circles, is reflective 
of the differing issues arising from distinct social locations experienced by Black and White 
women. This pattern of joint reading and writing groups was later continued through Comb
ahee 
River Collective founded in Boston in 1974 
(B. Smith, 2000)
. In their guiding 
herstory
 statement, these women highlight the role of age in shaping their ideas about race and gender. 
They state: 
 ÒÉAs children we realized that we were different from boys and that we were 
treated differently. For example, we were told in the same breath to be
 quiet both 
for the sake of being "ladylike" and to make us less objectionable in the eyes of 
white people. 
(B. Smith, 2000, p. 265)
Ó   The issues of performing a female identity and a Black identity have remained salient, yet 
the issue of age is one that has not fully been described for Black girls
, as proven by the lack of 
research on Black girls in literacy education. In this context, the presence of womenÕs literary 
circles among the Black community takes on a different meaning, a distinctly racialized and 
gendered meaning, than in the White comm
unity.
 Black women such as Bethune, Cooper Brown, Laney, and Burroughs saw their own self
-improvement as a means of r
ace improvement simultaneously. 
Moreover, these women all 
opened a variety of
 schools for Black students in the late nineteenth and early t
wentieth 
centuries, which scholars such as McClusky (1997) contend were in response to the pervasive 
myth of Black women being inherently immoral. From this, we can see that while ÒliterateÓ takes 
!!GG!on a racialized meaning in the American community, Òeducati
onÓ takes on a distinctly gendered 
meaning, in that schools for Black women served a distinct socializing and political purpose, 
derived from a need to address the specific concerns of Black female morality. These issue of 
morality are salient to education
 today, as researchers have noted that Black girlsÕ treatment by 
teachers is more social, rather than academic. Even in cyberspace, Black girls reach out to one 
another to build community in learning environments that ignore their needs 
(Kynard, 2010)
. These historical events demonstrate the co
ntinued pattern of literacy circles in the extra
-curriculum functioning as sites of reading, writing, and resistance in the Black female 
community. 
 Moreover, they highlight the intricate weaving together of literacy practices, 
communities of practice, pol
itical resistance, and identities in informal learning spaces. Much 
like the present book club space, these historical examples demonstrate that collectively creating 
stories to counter hegemonic notions of Black femininity can happen outside of the constr
aints of 
formal institutions, such as schools. 
 This was one reason that I positioned the book club in an 
after
-school program, rather than during the school day. In the next section of the literature 
review, I continue to interrogate the role of
 identity 
in Black teenÕs literacy practices through 
examining the literature on identity development theories.
 Scripts, Gazes, Production: 
 Black Racial Identity Development In/Out of 
Classrooms
  Literacy researchers have explored Black adolescent literacies throug
h many lenses, but 
have yet to use the ÒMultiple Worlds TypologyÓ (Holland et al, 1998; Urrieta, 2007)Ó 
 to explore 
studentsÕ raced and gendered identities as they interrogate texts (Hill, 2009; Kinloch, 2011; 
Kirkland, 2011; Morrell, 2007). 
 By carefully 
documenting how students interrogate texts in light 
of their identities, literacy researchers may be better able to understand how texts can be sites of 
!!G&!border
-crossing. Through analyzing this talk through the lens of
 identity theories, literacy 
researcher
s may be able to better describe how book clubs can be sites of identity revision and 
enactment. I chose to review the Multiple Worlds Typology for its similarity to RosenblattÕs 
transactional theory of literacies. 
   To understand better identity developm
ent, we first have to define Black Racial Identity 
(BRI), specifically as it relates to African American adolescents (Ducuir
-Gunby, 2009). To 
define BRI, Decuir
-Gunby (2009) suggested that "...in the case of African
-Americans(sic)... BRI 
can be described a
s the attitudes and beliefs that an African
-American has about his or her 
belonging to the black race individually, the black race collectively, and their perceptions of 
other racial groups" (Decuir
-Gunby, 2009,p.103). 
 In the context of urban schools, BRI
 can 
influence the students' perception of him or her self and school performance. BRI, as a key 
component of culture, can also influence the transitions that students make from the worlds of 
their family, school, and peers. 
          Researchers such as P
helan, Davidson, and Yu (1998) developed the Multiple Worlds 
Typology to understand how some students are able to navigate cultural difference in schools. 
Drawing on notions of Cultural Compatibility theory, which suggests that differences in cultural 
knowledge and behaviors become apparent "Éwhen schools require children to act in ways that 
are incongruent with what they have learned it homeÓ which results in Òmisunderstandings, 
problems, and conflictsÓ, the authors developed a typology for understanding s
tudent transitions 
(Phelan et al, 1998, p.10). They use the concept of social boundaries versus social borders to 
explain why some students are able to manage or avoid these problems successfully while others 
continue to be confounded by them. Phelan el al
l contend that social boundaries are sites of 
cultural difference which are, in their view, Òpolitically neutralÓ 
 but in which there are culturally 
!!G'!different standards of appropriate response. In contrast, social borders are politically charged 
sites of c
ultural difference, in which only one set of appropriate responses is rewarded (Phelan et 
al, 1998,p.10). Finally, Phelan (1998) suggested that the more rigid borders can be converted into 
permeable boundaries when the personal and psychic cost to adapting
 behaviors is low. But 
because the Multiple Worlds Typology does not account for how each individual decides if and 
when to cross boundaries, a theoretical framework such as Critical Race Feminism is needed to 
focus on how actors make meaning of social int
eractions in the extracurriculum.
   To understand how students transition from their school literacy worlds to the world of 
the extracurriculum, we turn to Figured Worlds theory, which examines how individuals make 
sense of different social settings (Holla
nd et al, 1998). Specifically, a figured world is: a socially 
and culturally constructed realm of interpretation in which particular characters and actors are 
recognized, significance is assigned to certain acts, and particular outcomes are valued over 
oth
ers. Each is a simplified world populated by a set of agents (in the world of romance: 
attractive women, boyfriends, lovers, fianc”es) who engage in a limited range of meaningful acts 
or changes of state (flirting with, falling in love with, dumping, havin
g sex with) as moved by a 
specific set of forces (attractiveness, love, lust) (Holland et al, 1998).
 Finally, while there are many different types of borders, such as socioeconomic or 
psychosocial or structural, I will focus on linguistic and socio
-cultura
l borders, which occur 
when the social components, such as learning or literacy style, in one world are viewed as 
inferior as those in another (Phelan et al., 1998,11). Because African American adolescents may 
be part of the African
-American Language speec
h community, it is necessary first to examine 
the literature on language as a possible border.
 !!GF!Casting Call: 
 Race, Gender, and the Role of Intersectionality in Literacy Practices
   In addition to youth culture, other factors such as gender play a large ro
le in how 
adolescents employ various literacy practices as a means of self
-identification. By this I mean 
that literacy researchers have found that African
-American male and female teens use different 
literacy practices for different purposes. In the work 
of Wissman (2007), African
-American 
females use literary genres such as poetry to build stories of self
-definition and social critique, 
and in doing so, they begin to practice authorship of their own unique identities. Additionally, 
Winn (2010) posited tha
t adjudicated African
-American adolescent females participating in a 
theatre program use the scripts of plays to re
-write their identities. In one remarkable instance, 
students revised the ideal of the Òride or die chickÓ to one of an independent woman who
 was Òdown for the ride, but not the dieÓ (Winn, 2010). In examples such as these, Multiple Worlds 
theory suggests that specific literacy practices, such as the use of individual genres, can provide 
students with resources to cross borders between their li
ved experiences and the traditional 
definitions of school
-based literacy.
         It is worth noting that African
-American males also use literacy in their processes of 
identity construction. In fact, Kirkland (2011) suggested that African
-American males p
ractice 
literacy based on identity
-specific principles, such as whether or not a text fits their perceptions 
of what will be relevant in the lives of African
-American males. Further, researchers such as 
Alfred Tatum (2000) have suggested culturally
-relevan
t approaches to literacy instruction for 
African
-American males, specifically using culturally relevant literature , which helped his 
students to develop a broad sense of social consciousness. In TatumÕs (2006) words, ÒHistory is 
laden with these kinds of 
enabling texts for African American males. An enabling text is one that 
moves beyond a sole cognitive focus
Ñsuch as skill and strategy development
Ñto include a 
!!GE!social, cultural, political, spiritual, or economic focus. (p.47)Ó For the purpose of this study
, culturally
-sustaining literature is that which the reader identifies as helpful to his/her social 
cultural and academic. 
 In these examples, African
-American students already employ literacies 
that allow them to cross borders between their social world a
nd the worlds of the school. 
Beginning from the perspective of understanding what these literacies mean to these youths 
enables researchers to highlight these social funds of knowledge as part of the student, their 
social world, and the teachersÕ instructi
on. In this way, literacy researchers have been able to 
lower the emotional and psychic costs of adapting behaviors to cross from the studentsÕ world to 
the school world. Because literacy pedagogies are based on studentsÕ premises for engaging in 
literacy 
practices, that is, in speaking
-back to the social world they live in, it may seem that sites 
of border
-crossings that formerly require too high a psychic cost are now manageable.
 Genres of Difference: 
 Young Adult Fiction as a Potential Border Crossing
  By examining language, literacy practices, and youth culture in the contexts of identity, I 
began to envision a design for my study.I piloted young adult book clubs (citation) and decided 
based on thepilot,to continue to use them as the setting for discours
e about identity. As I thought 
about the range and variety of texts I might choose for the book clubÕs reading and discussion, I 
recognized the potential relevance of such an activity not only for revealing identity work to the 
researcher, but for explorin
g how participation in intensive response to text and personal 
expression and reflection in an out of school context might have value for the classroom and for 
young adults meshing aspects of reading in and out of school in support of literacy growth. 
 Mul
tiple Worlds theory 
(Phelan et al., 1991)
 which I discovered in my conceptual 
research reported above, suggests that studentsÕ various worlds can provide them with 
!!&)!knowledge that informs their ability to cross borders int
o the school world. Without doing so, it 
would be difficult to answer the questions this study seeks to address, which are: What is the 
nature of black girlsÕ reading Afrocentric texts in an after
-school book club? How are race and 
gender brought to bear? 
Through engagement with these texts, how do the young women define 
Òculturally relevantÓ literatures? What do these terms mean to them? What do these engagements 
tell us about how identity and text interact in the reading experiences of female black 
adoles
cents?
  I chose to answer these questions by designing a book club, and inviting participants to 
join me. I organized the book club based on having conversations with the girls in the mentoring 
program about what they liked to read, researching current and
 upcoming young adult literature 
featuring Black girls, and talking to my Sistah Scholah network of peers, mentors, students, and 
family members about books they liked when they were in seventh grade. 
 I documented the 
book club through field notes, partic
ipant observation, and interviews. The full design of the 
study will be discussed in the following chapter. 
 !!&(! CHAPTER 4: 
The Case of Cyber
-bully: Literacy as an Emotional Tool
  Carleen:
  Alright, so what kind of poems did you write this week?
 Keisha*:
 One
 is about a cyber
-bully and this girl is being bullied...
   One goal of this yearlong study was to analyze and describe the literacy engagements of 
one group of African
-American girls in an after
-school book club. In doing this research, I 
wanted to constr
uct a deeper understanding of the book club, and the social interactions of its 
members. This study uses a socio
-cultural definition of literacy meaning that literacies can only 
be understood in their specific social and cultural contexts as acts of meanin
g. One way to study 
local meaning in communication is by means of participant observation 
(Geertz, 1972)
. Researchers who participate i
n activities in order to understand the meaning that others make of 
them make use of both the rigors of a research process and also their human empathy 
(Mead, 
1952). So, in order for participant observation researchers to produce accounts of local meaning 
resonant with the perspectives of those whom they study, they use particular research methods 
(as described in chapter two)
 and also make explicit the attitudes, prior knowledge, and 
predispositions that they bring to the activity.  
 In sharing race and gender with the girls in the book club, I found that my position as an 
insider and an outsider was helpful in many ways. As t
he earlier chapters of this dissertation 
demonstrate, in framing the research, reviewed literature on book clubs. I also studied theories 
that helped me think about identity, literacy, discourse, race, and gender. For example, and as 
illustrated in chapter
 three, I studied critical race feminism, critical race theory, organism, 
Africana womanism, black feminist thought, and feminism in the American context. In addition, 
as a literacy researcher in training my coursework featured works such as 
!!&C!AlvermannÕs
 Sociocultural Constructions of Adolescence
 (Alvermann, 2010)
, BitzÕ 
Manga High
 (Bitz, 2009)
, HeathÕs 
Ways With Words
 (Heath, 1983)
, and Ladson BillingsÕ 
Critical Race 
Theory in Education
. The latter led me to review more Critical Race Feminism, and to use it in 
structuring this study.
 By centering the research quest
ions on the studentsÕ intersectionality, and focusing the 
data collection on the voices of the students, I threaded CRF through the design of the study. One 
of the research questions that this study seeks to address is: What is the nature of Black girls 
reading in an after
-school book club? In this chapter, we see the girls using reading, writing, and 
dialog for a variety of reasons. First the girlsÕ negotiations about what titles to read demonstrate 
that reading becomes collaborative, social, and emotional
. It is collaborative in that the girlsÕ 
offer and take up titled with flexibility to hearing one another. It is social in the sense that while 
the girls are choosing books, they are also aware of the shifting sands of being part of a new 
group, and sortin
g out what role they will occupy in the book club setting 
(Finders, 1997)
. Finally, it is emotional in the sense that while the girls invest value in the titles they discuss, they 
also are aware of the need to build bridges to one another and possibly to avoid factions in such a 
small group. Therefore, we can say
 that the nature of reading in the book club was 
multiple/pluralistic, in that it provided a space for the girls to collaborate on multiple levels, each 
of which plays a part in one central issue of adolescence: the task of figuring out oneÕs place in 
the 
environment, and in the multiple social worlds each girl occupies. 
      As a researcher who shared some aspects of identity as well as some understandings of 
literacy in the context of urban education, I was keenly aware of the danger of over
-determining 
conceptual categories and theories before completing analysis. The imposing of categories on my 
experience a prior would limit my participation and development of relationships so critical to 
!!&%!understanding othersÕ points of view. It would  preclude my disc
overing and describing the 
particulars of book club participantsÕ talk and understandings in their terms. 
 I approached the book club from the perspective of someone who is interested and 
somewhat informed about literacies and about feminism yet I had many
 questions as to how the 
girls themselves understood both literacy and feminism. This meant that I had a hunch that was 
informed by not only my theoretical understanding but also my life experiences. This means that 
I was not a blank slate coming into the 
research site; in fact, I felt that the girls were engaged in 
literacies that as a field researchers and English education had not yet tapped into. Specifically I 
felt that there were unique ways of understanding and engaging literacy practices that black 
girls 
displayed which were overlooked by literacy researchers who often focused on other groups 
including white girls and black boys to the exclusion of black females (Gaunt, 2006). Below I 
will take up some of the ways that my inquiry involved both inside
r and outsider perspectives 
relevant to understanding how participants negotiated identities within the context of literature 
discussion.
 The Raced
-Gendered Researcher
  Despite my awareness of the possibility of the determining categories for analyzing dat
a, 
I was determined to understand both the girls saw their literacy in how they have these literacies 
reflected have a thought about themselves in terms of race and gender and in terms of the text 
that they read. Because ethnographic research involves anal
ysis 
that
 is both inductive and 
deductive implicates the researcher as a participant as well as an observer,
 I was careful to 
journal my experiences with the girls (Geertz, 1973). Drawing on both personal experience and 
systematic observation and documenta
tion of others activities and experiences, I connected how 
!!&D!my prior experiences influenced the ways I made sense of my direct experience, influenced my 
decisions about activities, and impacted my decisions about I was going to analyze and how I 
would be ab
le to include the girls voices as they emerge from the data. In analyzing the data, I 
was careful to keep notes while I transcribed the data, which featured questions that I was asking 
myself, notes about the categories and what they should contain as the 
definitions of the 
categories might be open to shifting in later stages, and notes on what were alternate 
interpretations. By carefully documenting my own processes in analyzing as a researcher 
throughout the process of data collection with weekly memos fo
llowing book club meetings, I 
felt that I could discern what my role in the book club entailed, and to become more aware of 
how my own lenses and experiences work coloring and their collection and analysis process. In 
some ways, the ways that I collected d
ata were influenced by the research questions that I asked. 
 In asking these research questions, I pre
-constructed some categories for analyzing the data 
through the conceptualizing of and the designing of the study.
 Unlearning My 
Inner Teacher as Research
er Identity
          I came to this study with minimal experience as a teacher in the traditional classroom 
setting. Instead, I had some undergrad experiences in after
-school programs in summer programs 
such as Upward Bound, and some experiences teaching f
irst and fourth grade science at the local 
elementary schools. And in all of these contexts, I found that one of the ways to help students 
engaged in the content was to use literature that was relevant to their culture and the context of 
their everyday liv
es. For example, when my tenth
-grade Upward Bound class read CisnerosÕ 
The 
House on Mango Street
, where my first
-generation students saw Spanglish in print for the first 
time, and discussion turned to their own immigration experiences, family memberÕs 
!!&G!mispronunciations of English words, and the untranslatability of Òwepa.Ó Our discussions were 
engaging, and much richer and deeper than when we read classics, such as 
The Great Gatsby.
 My prior knowledge with reading, especially with students to very heavily o
n my own 
role as a reader myself. Although I did not learn to read until I was seven, once I did begin to 
read it was like a great fire began inside me. Throughout elementary school and even through 
college, I spent a significant time libraries and booksto
res, and was always on a first name basis 
with every librarian I ever met. My passion for reading was something that became obvious to 
the girls even before the book club started when I was a mentor on in the campus
-mentoring 
program. As a mentor, I was th
e lady who always tried to give the students books on to read on 
the way back to Midwest Ville from campus. Because of this many of the girls who were in the 
mentoring program had come to expect that I would be carrying around free books for them to 
read, 
which was not inaccurate. When I arrived at the research site, girls were coming to me in 
the hallway and ask "do you anything for me to read today?" 
  I also found that when the girls in the book club described me to girls outside of the book 
club they we
re describing as Òtheir book club friend.Ó
 As the hallways empty out, I put on some music and peer around, curious to see 
where the children have gone, and I remember that the after
-school kids go to the 
cafeteria for a snack before heading to their progra
ms. IÕm heading down the 
stairs when Ashley bounds past me, and breathes ÒI thought it was book club 
today and I just got my snack and IÕmma get Ebony and Jasmine and come 
today.Ó IÕm excited to see her, and ask if sheÕll check the halls for anyone from 
book club last year while I go down to the cafeteria to see who I can see. She nods 
excitedly and bounces off, whispering ÒthatÕs my book club friendÓ to another 
little girl in the hallway, one I donÕt know. (Carey, FN 11
-26-12)  After book club, I walked th
e girls outside to the pick
-up area, where I overheard them 
describe me to their parents when they came to pick them up from school they described me as 
their Òbook club teacher.Ó I thought that, like Finder 
(1997) and MaÕAyan 
(2012), it was possible 
!!&&!that the girls referenced me as a ÒfriendÓ to confer themselves status among their peers, and a 
ÒteacherÓ to their parents in order to
 explain why a slightly older but not quite old person might 
be hanging out with them after school. While I had previously invited all parents and family to 
attend book club in the introductory letter, this issue impacted my participation in the current 
study by causing me to reconsider the role I wanted to have, which was not peer or teacher, but a 
helpful guide.
         While I understood myself to be a young adult, the students did have some questions 
about my age, as I was older than the eighth
-graders 
at the school yet younger than most faculty 
members, many of whom were veterans from the founding of the school. I did not offer them my 
age because I was not sure that the decade of age difference between the seventh graders and 
myself was something that 
should be disclosed. I neither offered information about my private 
life freely nor obscured it if they asked me. Instead, I tried to use texts, such as the lyrics to Nina 
SimoneÕs song 
Four Women
 (whose discussion will be described below), to tease out th
e girlsÕ 
ideas about race and gender. When we listened to the song, and discussed the lyrics together, 
their talk revealed the relevance of age to them. Through their talk, I began to learn how they 
thought about age as it interacts with race and gender. I
n conclusion, it matters to these young 
women how old a woman was when she wrote about the topics in the lyrics.  
  Meeting at the Intersection: Emotional, Individual, and Social Needs in Book Club
  In the week leading up to the Nina Simone discussion, the
 book club girls and I talked 
about the kinds of things weÕd like to read and write about in book club. As illustrated below, the 
!!&'!girls listed multiple genres and topics, and included both book and movie titles, and the names of 
authors.
  Carleen: 
 I need 
a favor from you guys. 
 I need you guys to bring three examples 
of books by next Monday
Ñbooks that have been turned into movies that you 
would like to read or books that have not been turned into movies that you think 
should be.
 Jasmine: 
 Any book by Sharo
n Flake is good!
 Carleen: 
 Is she one of your favorite authors?
 Jasmine: 
 YES!  In this excerpt, the conversation starts when I ask a broad question about books that have 
been turned into movies, and takes a turn when Jasmine effusively expresses her affin
ity for 
books by Sharon Flake. In being the first person to get her ideas out on the table, Jasmine has 
taken a bit of a social risk, both because she does not know if the other girls will like her, and 
because she doesnÕt know if this will affect how they
 will support her choice. Although the girls 
are all in the same grade, they do not hang out together as a group outside of book club. In a 
sense, they are all getting used to a new peer group, in a new space. 
 However, as others have documented in studies
 of young womenÕs book club talk 
(Florio
-Ruane, 2001)
, the topic proffered by the first speaker was taken up by the subsequent 
speaker. Thus, in opening the conversation, Jasmine was not alone in liking Sharon FlakeÕs 
novels. I spoke next, taking up JasmineÕs topic
-a move I made deliberately as a facilitator 
to 
encourage her and other to share more of their ideas. Keisha and Ashley then spoke to the same 
topic, although Keisha had not read the book, and Ashley said she did not want to read it.  
 Carleen: 
 There are a couple of really good books by Sharon Flake
.  Has anyone read the
 book, ÒThe Skin IÕm InÓ?
 Keisha: 
 I was gonna read that book, but I got started reading something else...
 Carleen: 
 Do you guys want to read that? 
 Is this something you think you want to read in 
the future?
 Ashley: 
 Can we read anot
her book by Sharon Flake?
 Carleen: 
 We can. The Skin IÕm In is actually a really fun book. 
 Its one I think I can buy 
officially.
 !!&F! In this instance, the girls continue to work through the topic of Sharon Flake, but with a 
new wrinkle: conflict around which
 title to read. Because Ashley is expressing some reluctance 
to re
-read The Skin IÕm In, contrary to what Keisha seems to be open to and what Jasmine is 
advocating, this is one instance where the girls are working through the practical matter of how 
to bal
ance what people want to read individually versus as a group, the social matter of how to 
get along with a new group of people, and the emotional matter of what to get personally excited 
about, with what the book club wants to read as a whole. In this way,
 the data suggests that the 
nature of the girlsÕ reading is not only social, but also cooperative. In the next turn of the 
conversation, we see the girls collaborating further to resolve the issue.
 Ashley (
reading the back of Money Hungry, another Sharon F
lake novel
): 
 It says, ÒA
 haunting story of greed and forgiveness, by the award winning author of 
 The Skin IÕm 
In...Ó Carleen: Yea, thatÕs a good book! The Skin IÕm In is interesting, I liked reading it a lot 
when I was your age. Is that something we want
 to try for in our second or third book in 
book club?
 Jasmine: 
 ThereÕs another book itÕs called, ÒBegging for ChangeÓ. 
 ItÕs about that this girl 
named, Raspberry
Ñshe lives in the ghetto.
 Carleen: 
 Raspberry is a cute name, that sounds good.
   In this tur
n, we see Ashley continuing to advocate for another book by Sharon Flake, but 
this time she is joined by Jasmine, who recommends another title, perhaps as a peace
-offering to 
keep the group discussion on track, to relieve some of the social pressure of hav
ing made the first 
suggestion, or to relieve the emotional risk/pressure of displeasing someone else in a new group 
setting and space. The silence of the others is ambiguous but researchers have found silence 
functioning in a variety of ways, from assent t
o resistance 
(Florio
-Ruane, 2001)
. As book club leader
, I was excited to hear that some of the girls were already familiar 
with Sharon Flake and the novel, which was relatively new when I read it as a teen and has since 
become extremely well known, especially among Black girls and women, because it addresses 
!!&E!an important issue to all women of all ages: colorism. The term refers to Òinter
- and intraracial 
discrimination based on skin color stratification 
(Brooks, Browne, & Hampton, 2008, p. 660)
 .Ó This discussion also shows some of the ways the book club girls notice, mediate, and take
-care 
of one anotherÕs emotions 
in a new social situation, thereby answering the research question by 
revealing a care
-taking function to the girlsÕ book club discussions and behavior.
 The discussion also shows some of ways the book club girls notice, mediate, and 
balance/take care of on
e anotherÕs emotions in new social groups/ situations.
 I get way more bullying at home: Movie Responses as Emotional Tools
  The idea of female care
-taking of one anotherÕs emotions, in their discourse practices and 
also in their self
-portraits of everyday 
experience was a topic raised in subsequent book club 
discussions. The girlsÕ reported a similar sort of emotional care
-taking with female family
-members, for example, when watching movies at home, and taking on a good
-daughter/sister/family member gender 
role. These roles also included literacy practices such as 
writing, and in the following example, we see the intersections of these practices with the girlsÕ 
family identities. 
 In the example below, Keisha talks about a movie she watched with her sister i
n response 
to a question I asked, and looking carefully, you can begin to see where the emotional response 
is tied to media. As part of leading the book club, I asked the girls weekly what they had read, 
written, watched, and listened to over the past week
. I fished around to get an idea of what media 
they consumed and produced, and to share some things I had written with them, also. When they 
didnÕt forget their notebooks, the girls were keen to share their fashion designs, stories, drawings, 
and in this c
ase, even their poetry.
 !!')!Carleen: 
 Ok, I only saw a couple of notebooks, so I didn't know if anyone had anything 
to share. 
 Alright, so what kind of poems did you write this week?
 Keisha: 
 One is about a cyber
-bully and this girl is being bullied
 Ebony: 
 I love that movie!
 Carleen: 
 ÒCyber
-bully?Ó
 Keisha: 
 Yes. Carleen: 
 Ok, so whatÕs your poem?
  Keisha: 
 ÒToday there are bullies,
 you can't tell them from dark?
 They prey on people, 
  even though they are aware,
 There still are tears beyond this world. 
  to h
elp someone who is bullied,
  by writing a love song, singing,
  " I wanna write you a sad song"
  In this exchange, Keisha is indicating her awareness of the issue of cyber
-bullying as 
presented in the ABC Family movie. In the first and second lines of the p
oem, Keisha describes 
the ambiguiety of cyber
-attacks by comparing them to the dark. From emphasizing the dark as a 
kind of universal fear, she moves to evoking imagery of scary boogeyman and monster from 
horror movies by using the word ÒpreyÓ to describe 
the bully in the third line. Keisha humanizes 
the victim by referring to them as Òpeople.Ó By using the ÒtheyÓ to refer to the bullies, she is 
positioning herself as being on the receiving end of the bullying, rather than the aggressor. In 
crafting the sen
tence that way, she may be establishing a connection with the victim in the 
movie. ItÕs also important to note that she is writing as a form of emotional release, and showing 
emotions that are obscured by current paradigms of black girls, such as sorrow, f
ear, uncertainty, 
and hope. If we look at her writing as a type of individual coping strategy to deal with 
uncomfortable emotions, and her sharing as seeking social support, we can see that Keisha is 
using book club as a space to get help from the girls in
 dealing with the pressures of being 
bullied.
 !!'(!Even so, these emotions, and her descriptions of them become powerful tools her writing 
repertoire, which she is using in response to a movie that resonated with her on an emotional, 
social, and personal level.
 In sharing this poem in book club, she is being vulnerable, which may 
indicate the she feels sheÕs in a safer space to do so, but also that she trusts the people there. This 
helps us to answer our research question, by revealing the nature of book club is
 one that 
supports a kind of transparency where the girls can be explicit about their emotional responses as 
a group. This suggests that the space is helpful for Keisha to try out coping strategies, not only 
for support, but to see if the other girls have 
similar struggles, or responses to them. This theme 
of seeking and finding support among other girls is rarely discussed when describing Black girlsÕ 
educational experiences.
 It is telling that KeishaÕs poem about cyber
-bullies does not fall on deaf ears i
n book 
club. In the following excerpt, Keisha indicates that these shared emotions were experienced in a 
familial setting with her sister at home. The idea of preteen girls using literacy discussion with 
first with family members, and then again with peers
 outside of school indicates that they may be 
practicing finding community in new spaces. In the except below, we see the other book club 
girls take up the poem. It seems that the processing and to management of the emotional was also 
collaborative which d
emonstrates a level of gendered cooperation that suggests these middle 
school girls are invested and capable of emotional openness with one another.
 Ebony: 
 Right, you cry until your tears run free, your tears come down, sad songs are 
made to cry, soÉ
 Keisha: I got two more!
 Tasha: 
 How many do you have?
 Carleen: 
 So, hold on, hold on. 
 I like your poems; I want to go back to your first one
--the 
one you said you wrote with your sister. 
 Are there any particular instances, like do you 
write with your sister 
often?
 Keisha: 
(Nods)
 Carleen: Yes! 
 How often?
 Keisha: 
 Like at bedtime.
 !!'C!Carleen: 
 So did you guys see ÒCyber
-bulliesÓ together? 
 So thatÕs why you wrote the 
poem together, alright. 
 I was just trying to get clear on that. 
 Where there any particular 
scenes in the movie that you thought were relevant to school or relevant to your life?
 Keisha: 
 Yeah some things were like Facebook and taking pictures and can go anywhere 
and do bad things to your picture.
  In this excerpt, we see Ebony affirming Keisha, alth
ough it is unclear if sheÕs supporting 
her writing as a release strategy, or agreeing that music can trigger a physical release like crying, 
that can help you get out of a funk, a slump, or bad mood. While sharing the poem is an act of
 vulnerability on Kei
shaÕs part, EbonyÕs response of ÒRightÓ is in some ways validating that act. 
In this exchange, we can see the girls using discussion in book club to show care, build bonds 
and practice friendship. The girls talk about engaging in common literacy practices 
at home 
allows them to see each other as having similar issues. This helps us to further answer our 
research question, by demonstrating that the book club space provides room for the girls to 
engage in literacy practices that allow them to share response m
echanisms and to support one 
another in ways that the research literature on black girlsÕ literacy has yet to fully describe.
  In the next quote, we can see that in response to KeishaÕs suffering, Ebony is exercising 
empathy and sympathy from her past expe
riences as a bullied person. In our interview, Ebony 
revealed that there is a bullying narrative present in the books she likes to read, such as 
Diary of 
a Wimpy Kid
 and 
Dork Diaries
, and in real life. Ebony had this to say about the topic:
 Ebony: ÓBullies
 pick on people because they know theyÕre weakerÉbut one day, the 
dork grows up, and they get in a fight, and he wins the fightÉAnd plus, bullying is aÉbullying 
is affecting a lot of people lives these days.
 Carleen: Why do you say that?
 Ebony: Because upÉ
scientificsÉI think thatÕs what it is, my teacher talks about it. And 
itÕs saying that like, our generation isÉ(
accepts Cheeto, eats it
) um, the most violent generation. 
 Carleen: O, do you mean statistically? Maybe sheÕs saying that based on the numbers, 
on the amount of people that experience bullying in your generation?
  Ebony: (nods) YeaÉ
 !!'%!Later, in her second interview, the topic of bullying resurfaces, although it has been six 
weeks since the last interview. In response to my questions about what she l
iked to write, Ebony 
is telling me about her experience winning an essay
-writing contest, (ÔWhat Civil Rights Means 
to MeÕ) sponsored by Kroger the previous year.
 Ebony:Élike, I was bullied in first, second, and third grade and that kinda bought down 
my se
lf-esteem, but then when people wanted to be my friend, cuz people always wanted to be 
my friend, but I didnÕt let them in because I didnÕt want myself to get hurt. But once I won, I 
knew I was smart, I can do something with my life and nobody can tell me 
I canÕt. 
  Research on black girls in schools details their roles as ÒenforcersÓ and ÒhelpersÓ 
regarding the teacher and their classmates, but this overlooks the emotional and the socio
-emotional aspects of black girlsÕ schooling experiences 
(Zinn & Dill, 1994)
. In the above quote, 
Ebony is revealing that these aspects are important dynamics to how the girls in book club 
engage learning, and more importantly, how they engage one another. 
Writing about studentsÕ 
respo
nses, Dutro 
(2008) suggests Ò
 Éthe prese
nce of students' hard stories, offered up in 
response to a textual encounter, require re
!visioning the classroom as a space of testimony and 
witness.Ó In some ways, Ebony performs the role of witness to KeishaÕs poem (or textual 
encounter) in the book club space. 
In doing so, Ebony is practicing empathy, by which I mean 
she is inferring, reco
gnizing, and understanding the feelings of another person, such as those 
Keisha is writing about in her poem. In doing so, she is demonstrating concern and exercising 
care for Keisha. 
 Ebony is demonstrating that, in the book club space, it is an appropria
te response to 
feeling empathy for someone who is suffering. It is also acceptable to make something for them 
to lift their spirits, or try in some way to express concern. Because the love song is highlighted as 
one way to help someone who was being bullie
d, an
 affirmation as offering affirmation which is 
!!'D!something that can provide healing or the space to step back and get perspective on the situation, 
and whether the bullying represents the full scope of the person being bullied.
 The girlsÕ ideas about bul
lying also revealed that they felt bullied off
-line, as well. In the 
next exchange, the girls further demonstrate their connection with the ÒCyberbullyÓ movie, and 
begin to relate it to their family life. In this next excerpt, it is key to note that they a
re on the 
receiving end of the bullying rather than the aggression, and that the girls continue to share 
feelings of vulnerability, especially as it relates to gender, within race in the context of family.
 Ashley: 
 Ok, I saw that movie on Lifetime. I thoug
ht it was real sad because she was 
trying to kill herself but I almost cried. But every time my brother jokes, and he tries to 
bully me, I get really scared, so like when he's bullying me
- Carleen: I think that, umm, sometimes our siblings are the people w
ho really torment and 
make us cry more so than other people.
 Ashley: Oh, yea, let me tell you, I got way more bullying at home than at school! Like, I 
got made fun of all the time because of the fact that theyÕre browner all the time.
  In her first line, A
shley lets us know how the movie makes her feel, and then in then in 
her second turn, she relates it back to when her brother teases her. In doing so, she steps outside 
of the girl to girl comparisons that have characterized the conversation so far to make
 a girl
-boy comparison. By highlighting the issue of gender, Ashley connects her brotherÕs bullying to her 
skin tone. The issue of skin tone as a type of social currency connected to economic mobility has 
a historical precedent in the U.S (Hill Collins, 20
05). Even more importantly, skin tone is an 
issue with an inverse relationship to gender. By this I mean that skin tone operates differently for 
Black men than Black women, as the girls will describe in the next chapter. This is a valuable 
point because it
 the girlsÕ awareness of skin tone affects how they perceive Black femininity and 
masculinity and attractiveness in book club. Because Black women are held to Eurocentric 
beauty standards, the lighter the skin to, the more ÒfeminineÓ and ÒattractiveÓ the w
oman; 
whereas for Black men, skin tone is not as definitive an issue for gender performance. In 
!!'G!highlighting skin tone, AshleyÕs demonstrating an awareness of Black womanhood as embodied, 
i.e not looking at race and gender as discrete (Gaunt, 2006). CRF wo
uld suggest that this is 
Ashley demonstrating her recognition that there are different experiences for Black women/girls 
and men/boys.
  Black girls make the world a better placeÓ: Self
-Image in the Book Club
   Within Black female experiences, these differ
ences are also rooted in the perceived 
meanings of behavior, such as wearing certain types of clothing. In book club, we talked about 
different kinds of Black girls, and I tried to advocate for the validity of plural experiences. The 
girls, especially Ebon
y highlight their understandings of differences in behavior in their written 
responses to the questions, Òhow would you describe Black girls, and why?Ó In this quick write 
Ebony writes:
 Figure 
5: Ebony's Journal Entry #1
 (ÒBlack wo
men are strong, powerful. They are 
intelligent, they can do anything that boys can do 30x better. Some are a lot different than 
others. DonÕt carry there self like young ladies and others a 304s. Whereing half shirts to 
shool, outside, and when its cold ou
tside. So the boys can notice them but I think that if a 
boy really wants a girl heÕll go for it. Girls that really need a man she chasing him 
(Ebony, 11
-26-12)Ó)  !!'&!In this artifact, I want to note that although the question was framed around black girls, 
EbonyÕs response defines ÒwomenÓ in connection with positive adjectives, and draws a 
comparison between women and Òboys,Ó not men. When she talks about difference, she begins 
to distance these women from two groups: Òyoung ladiesÓ and Ò304s.Ó 
 In book club,
 the 304, 
whom the girlsÕ described as being a girl that Òchases after boys, has their belly out, wears tight 
clothesÓ (field notes,12
-4-12) was one of the most frequently discussed themes. The girls 
explained their use of the term by saying, "if you enter
 the digits 3
-0-4 into a calculator, and turn 
it upside down, it spells h
-o-e", which they felt was extremely Òharsh,Ó so they used 304 as a 
code.
 In EbonyÕs dichotomy, she positions Ò304sÓ as girls who are not competitive with boys 
like ÒwomenÓ but instea
d pursue attention from boys, and she appears to place a lower value on 
these 304s, as well as the boys (who she describes a bit desperate and Òreally wants a girlÓ) that 
participate in the 304Õs pursuit.
 According to Ebony, for his part, if the boy wants 
a Ògirl,Ó (perhaps instead of a 
ÒwomanÓ or no matter what kind) he may go along with the pursuit, but he is clearly not referred 
to as a Ôman.Õ The question of age is unclear here, as Ebony consistently relates ÒboyÓ and ÒgirlÓ 
with low
-valued behaviors. I
t is possible that her perception of ÒwomanÓ is aligned with 
merit/behavior, rather than age. An alternate interpretation is that Ebony is constructing a 
continuum, where women are on one side, ladies are in the middle, and 304s are on the other 
side. What
 is unclear is if women are on the same plane as Òyoung ladiesÓ or Ò304sÓ, or if its 
possible to move in both directions, or only one; which leaves us with the question, is this the 
beginning of respectability politics, or simply a response to being social
ized to it?
 For the same assignment, Jasmine went in a similar direction, but with very different 
results. She writes:
 !!''! Figure 
6: Jasmine's Journal #3
 (ÒThe way I think most black girls act is good (for most 
people). Some black gi
rls act ratchet, what I mean by that is like, most black girls wear 
clothes with holes in the the pants and in the shirt. Most black girls are not ratchet, act 
ladylike, and does not act like a garden tool. Black girls that donÕt act ratchet are good 
ladie
s.Ó
)  In Jasmine's writing, we can see a similar beginning to Ebony's, where the girls begin by 
defining Black women in positive terms. For example, Òwe run the worldÓ Jasmine relates 
media, in terms of the "Black Girls Rock" awards show, to the topic, and
 begins to illustrate all 
!!'F!the ways that Black girls are awesome. As part of this illustration, she details the way Black girls 
are different from White girls, but because she does not split the category of White into boys and 
girls, it seems as if she beli
eves race and gender to be mutually intertwined for White girls as 
well as Black ones. CRF would suggest that by carving out a space for Black girls to be different 
than White girls, Jasmine is demonstrating the idea that these are integrated, and centerin
g her 
writing on this experiences of women and girls of color. This centering is not without attention to 
the views of outsiders, who "think Black girls have too much attitude," which Jasmine rejects in 
favor of "you can have as much attitude as you want!"
 She goes on to say that ÒBlack girls are 
powerful and inspire the new generation that is coming alongÓ which perhaps indicates that she 
thinks of herself and other Black girls as role models, for younger people. She finally ends with 
the declarative state
ment ÒBlack girls make the world a better place!Ó This writing, which 
counters hegemonic notions of Black womanhood and girlhood, is a powerful counter narrative. 
According to Solorzano and Yosso, ÓÉthe counter
-story is a tool for exposing, analyzing, and 
challenging the majoritarian stories of racial privilegeÉpersonal stories or narratives recount an 
individualÕs experiences with various forms of racism and sexism 
(2009, p. 138)
.Ó In the 
example of JasmineÕs journal,
 we see that the idea of counter
-narratives can also be extended to 
include adolescents young women, whose voices are rarely heard in the research literature.
 It is worth noticing that this declaration is positioned next to the idea that, race doesn't 
matter when it comes to having attitude. So, in addition to perceiving race and gender as 
intertwined, Jasmine's adding a layer of color
-consciousness in context, rather than color
-blindness (Bonilla
-Silva, 2009), that allows her to claim having attitude as a 
positive thing for all 
women. It is key to note that as students growing up in the age of Òracism without racist (Bonilla 
Silva),Ó the girlsÕ attitudes about race, racism, and color
-blindness have yet to fully be described. 
!!'E!This could also be seen as a way
 to combat the stereotype of Black women having too much 
attitude, and to assert that all women have attitude, but that only Black women are singled out for 
negative attention because of it. Jasmine's ideas of race and gender, and her consciousness of the 
way it colors outsiders' perceptions of Black women/girls suggest that she understands some of 
the complexity of race and gender, and that she has begun to develop strategies to navigate 
around it, in terms of refusing to internalize the negative ideas.
 In the next chapter, we see the girls taking a different angle, and discussing the 
differences in Black womenÕs lived experiences, through the issue of colorism in Nina SimoneÕs 
ÒFour WomenÓ, and Sharon FlakeÕs 
The Skin IÕm In
. While I planned to talk about 
Nina 
Simone's ÒFour WomenÓ to highlight the role of colorism in Black womenÕs lives after 
discussing 
The Skin I'm In
 to link the issue of skin color with the next novel, Jacqueline 
WoodsonÕs 
The Road to Paris
, but the girlsÕ discussion of the title gave me
 pause. I did not want 
to rush in with the novel and risk invalidating the girlsÕ input, but chose instead to launch into the 
song as a way of echoing their sentiment, and giving things time to cool off. 
       !!F)! CHAPTER 5: Four Women, Four Worlds: Critica
l Media Analysis in Book Club
  On Colorism: ÒI think Simone Nina is trying to describe four things that colored women 
live through differentÓ (Keisha)
       Ladson
-Billings (2009) argues that the negative images in the media of Black 
females influence how 
we are thought of as teachers, and I extend this notion to also include 
learners. In the following chapter, we see that as learners, black female preteens pick up and 
contest these images, demonstrating that Black girlsÕ critical literacies are built aroun
d an 
intersectional awareness of the ways race and gender influence representations in the media. 
Further, they construct new images of Black femaleness through their discussion of music, and 
so demonstrate an embodied notion of race and gender (Gaunt, 200
6). These constructions 
inform our second research question, ÒHow do young women engage texts in book club?Ó by 
demonstrating how the girlsÕ discourse contains intertextual counter
-narratives.
 Nina SimoneÕs work is one example of black women using the medi
a to define 
themselves for themselves, and her music, especially the song ÒFour WomenÓ is a testament to 
the power of constructing composite counter narratives
11 during the Civil Rights Movement. 
Nina
, a biopic about SimoneÕs life, began filming in the fall
 of 2013. The movie producers 
stirred controversy in casting Zoe Saldana, an Afro
-Latina actress with lighter skin, straighter 
hair, and thinner nose and lips to play Simone, a move that her family and estate publicly 
condemned. While some celebrities such
 as Aretha Franklin felt that the actress casted needed to 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 Defined as  a Òtype of counter
-narrative usually offers biographical a
nalysis of the experiences of a 
person of colorÉin relation to U.S institutions and a socio
-historical context 
(Taylor, Gillborn, & 
Ladson
-Billings, 2009, p. 139)
.!!!F(!play piano or sing to do justice to NinaÕs legacy, others such as Jill Scott felt that even though 
Saldana wore a prosthetic nose to make it appear wider and make
-up to darken her skin, 
SaldanaÕs a
cting skills justified her for the role. On the other hand, many felt that SimoneÕs 
image had been whitewashed or changed to fit a Eurocentric beauty standard, and to rectify the 
wrong, an actress with more distinctly African features should be cast 
(Burton, Bonilla
-Silva,, 
Ray, Buckelew, & Hordge Freeman, 2010)
. The recent 
controversy is part of the socio
-historical 
context of the song, and reveals the issue of ownership of these stories. The controversy 
foreshadows that girlsÕ analysis of the song, and both the question, Òwho has the right to tell 
Nina SimoneÕs story, and h
ow?Ó 
 The late Nina Simone raised these exact issues in her own artistic work. In her 1991 
autobiography, Simone describes writing the song ÒFour Women.Ó She says: 
 The women in the song are Black but their skin tones range from light to dark, 
and their id
eas of beauty and their own importance are deeply influenced by that. 
All the song did was tell them what entered the minds of most Black women in 
America when they thought about themselves: their complexions, their hair
-straight, kinky, natural, which?
-and what other women thought of them 
(Simone 
& Cleary, 1991, p. 117)
  Because the theme of self
-definition was one topic of Sharon FlakeÕs book, 
The Skin IÕm 
In, I chose to introduce the girls to some of SimoneÕs most famous songs, including ÒMississippi 
GoddamnÓ and ÒFour
 WomenÓ just prior to beginning the novel. In the novel, the main 
character, Maleeka, is coming to terms with the big questions of adolescence, such as ÒWho am 
I?Ó while she is also subjected to teasing. While some of the teasing is about the clothes her 
mother makes for her as a means of grieving for MaleekaÕs late father, the teasing that really 
bothers Maleeka is about her dark skin tone and hair texture. To address these issues, Maleeka 
cuts her hair, and seeks comfort in different clothes, lent to her 
by the antagonist, Char, who 
lends her clothes, but talks about her to her face and behind her back, and spreads rumors that set 
!!FC!Maleeka up for a fight with another girl over a boy. Maleeka does not have very many friends, 
and through her experiences with 
CharÕs gang, is learning that conditional friendship is not 
acceptance. Through her relationship with Char, Maleeka learns that the people to keep close are 
those that see value in you as a whole person being herself, rather than in being someone else. 
Bec
ause the issue of skin tone and colorism is a central theme of the novel, I paired it with ÒFour 
WomenÓ to see what sense the girlsÕ made of the connections or disconnects between the two 
texts, and real life as a teen growing up in the city.
 Researchers s
uch as Hill 
(2009) describes one approach of using lyrics as literature f
or critical interrogation as 
hip
-hop literacy,
 and this is one approach among many within the 
framework of pedagogies based on popular culture and critical media literacy 
(Duncan
-Andrade, 
2004; Morrell, 2007; Pough, 2007; Smith, 1997; Winn, 2011)
. Because cultural narratives 
connect with one another
 in intertextual ways, i.e, text
-text; text
-reader; reader
-reader; 
hegemonic narratives
- counter
-narratives, I hoped to create an opportunity for intertextual 
engagement in the girlsÕ responses (Gee, 2008). I also wanted to show the girls an example of 
adv
ocacy for multiple narratives of Black womanhood, outside of the male gaze. I told them a 
little about NinaÕs Southern upbringing, her classical piano training, and her rejection from 
Juilliard. I also told them that these events occurred before she began 
making music during the 
Civil Rights Movement, such as ÒMississippi Goddam.Ó
  In ÒFour Women
12,Ó Simone paints the picture of four different women whose 
differences, most notably in skin tone, result in dramatically different lived experiences. 
Colorism, is
 Òan allocation of privilege and disadvantage according to the lightness and darkness 
of oneÕs skinÉ[that] tends to favor lighter skin over darker skin as indicated by a personÕs 
appearance as proximal to a White PrototypeÓ 
(Burton et al., 2010, p. 440)
. Colorism is a 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!12 See Appendix for full lyrics
!!!F%!prominent theme in FlakeÕs novel about one Black girl coming to terms with being teased for he
r dark skin 
(Brooks et al., 2008)
. I thought the song provided us with an introduction to the idea 
that images of black women have historically hinged
 on skin tone. The girls, however, thought 
otherwise, and discussed the lyrics in relation to stories about the women in their lives to 
construct an intertextual analysis. 
 On Colorism: ÒI think Simone Nina is trying to describe four things that colored wo
men live 
through differentÓ (Keisha)
      In order to answer the research question of ÒHow do young women engage texts in 
book club?Ó I want to describe how I set up that meeting, as it was different from book 
discussion days. In preparation for the meetin
g to discuss Four Women, I printed multiple copies 
of the lyrics to the song, downloaded a recording of a live performance at the 1969 Harlem 
Cultural Festival on my computer, and jotted down several discussion questions in my field notes 
journal. These in
cluded:  ÒWhat are the best/worst parts of this song?Ó ÒWhat, if anything, do 
you find compelling about this song?Ó ÒDo any of the four ladies sound like anyone you know? 
What makes them the same/different from you, and from each other? (Carey, field notes
, 1
-6-13).Ó 
 In short, I wanted to focus the discussion on the images of Black women in the song. I 
hoped that these questions would prompt inquiry about the role of skin color in determining or 
influencing the multiple narratives of Black Women, as both F
lakeÕs novel and SimoneÕs song 
center on depictions of Black women of various hues. In the following section, I argue that the 
girls construct intertextual counter
-narratives in response to the song, and these inform our 
second research question, ÒHow do y
oung women engage texts in book club?Ó 
  !!FD!Shades of Colorism: Intertextual Counternarratives of ÒFour WomenÓ
  When I arrived at school, I set up our discussion circle and free
-choice book table as 
always, and waited until 3:45 for the girls to come join me.
 I hung out in the halls, making small 
talk with the teachers and students I knew from the mentoring group or past school observations.  
Ebony was the first to join me, bounding in with her usual enthusiasm, and looking for new titles 
on the free
-choice ta
ble. When everyone else arrived (Ebony, Jasmine, Ashley, Keisha, Alicia), 
we listened to the audio of the song once to get the idea of the song, then I handed out the lyrics 
with the instructions to Òcircle the words that stand out to you most,Ó to begin r
endering the text 
(Hill, 2009)
. We listened to the song for a second time, and then 
we opened discussion, where 
the girls were keen to ask questions about authenticity, ownership of narratives, and what was 
the purpose of SimoneÕs song. Through answering these questions, the girls demonstrated a 
growing critical media literacy, and some a
wareness of the collective ownership of Black 
womenÕs stories. I argue their own close association with the narratives, and also indicating 
where and how they saw themselves as black girls, demonstrates that their engagement with text 
is intertextual.
 After listening to the song, we took a few moments to jot down some answers to the 
questions above as a warm
-up to discussion. In the next passage, the girls talk about the multiple 
experiences of Black womenÕs lives in the song to suggest first that ÒcoloredÓ
 womenÕs lives are 
distinct from those of non
-colored women, and that they are a part of womanhood as a whole.
 Carleen: So what do you guys think?
 (Hands raised as I count the order in which to speak)
 Carleen: One, two, three and four.
 Keisha: Um, I think 
I wrote in her name backwards.  I think Simone Nina is trying to 
describe four things that colored women live through different.  Different ways, and like, 
atmospheres, and this is what I think women are.
 !!FG!Carleen: So you think black women are different and
 there are more than one experience 
of being a black women? Ok, cool.  Ashley is next then Jasmine.
  In positioning the four narratives as Òthings that colored women live through,Ó Keisha is 
noticing that there are differences in how African American women
 live through the experiences 
detailed in the song, and perhaps implying that these are distinct from non
-colored women. In the 
next sentence, she suggests, Òdifferent ways,Ó further indicating some distance between the 
African American women of the song, 
and other women. In using ÒatmospheresÓ to describe the 
arrangement of types of experiences, Keisha indicates that even within the group of colored 
women, there are distinct spaces that women operate within, which means that she has an 
awareness of multipl
e experiences of Black womanhood based on how location may factor into 
how these experience. This is consistent with the dichotomy set up by Jasmine in the last chapter, 
suggesting a ranking or continuum of types of Black women, young ladies, and 304s. In
 Between 
Good and Ghetto 
(2009), Jones describes these dichotomies as Ògendered 
constraintsÓ which 
position girls in inner cities to navigate the categories with fluidity. These dichotomies also 
influence how the girls advocate for themselves in schools, view sexual agency, express emotion, 
write empowering texts, communicate across c
yber
-space, choose what to read, understand 
feminity and blackness, use art to narrate their stories and interpret the world around them 
(Evans Winters, 2010; Fordham, 1993; Gibson, 2010; Henry, 1998; Jones, 2009; 
Kynard, 2010; 
Leadbetter & Way, 1996; McNair & Brooks, 2012; Park, 2012; Richardson, 2009, 2002; S. 
Smith, 1997; Staples, 2009; Ward, 2009; Weis & Fine, 2005; Winn, 2011; Wissman, 2007)
.  Keisha finishes by saying, Òthis is what I think women are,Ó which 
almost seems to bring 
these groups, colored vs non
-colored, different narratives vs single narratives, all together under 
the umbrella of ÒwomenÓ. In doing so, she tells us that her ideas of race and gender are deeply 
intertwined, that these influence how 
she reads media texts, and in some ways, organized by the 
!!F&!distinctions Òwomen,Ó Òcolored,Ó and Ònon
-colored.Ó In separating out the experiences of Black 
women, sheÕs beginning to carve out a space for a unique set of identities.
 As the conversation continu
es, the girls suss out the idea of race, as it relates to the Black 
female experience, and what the effects of this relationships can be. In the next excerpt, the girls 
interpret the experiences described in the song, and draw out connections between image
s of 
black women, race, skin tone, desirability, and economic stability. This has undertones of what 
Hill Collins (2006) terms Òblack sexual politicsÓ which is significant because it demonstrates 
their understanding of the ways sex and gender work differen
tly for Black women, in and outside 
of the Black community. In the following quote, Alicia describes how Black women are Ôhard,Õ 
and in doing so, demonstrates her understanding of the differences between Black and White 
women.
 Alicia: I think it was tellin
g four different stories about black women.  The first one, you 
know how hard women are but they are too strong to stop
Ñso that the first one.  And this 
one is about the white women, ÒIÕm very sorry I donÕt mean to brag, IÕm gonna marry me 
a rich man and h
eÕs going to take care of me!Ó
 Ebony:  She said yellow!
 In this quote, we see Alicia and Ebony begin debating the race of the women in the song. 
As Alicia interprets the narrative of Aunt Sarah, she indicates that the stories are about black 
women specific
ally, not only women of color. But when she describes the story, she uses words 
like Òhard women,Ó which references archetypes of Black womanhood that position Black 
women as a contrast to soft, passive ideals of White womanhood. This traditionally casts B
lack 
women as unfeminine, and therefore beyond love or sympathy (Ladson
-Billings, 2006), yet 
Alicia sees this ascribed ÒstrengthÓ as a positive thing, in that Black women are Òtoo strong to 
stop.Ó It is unclear from her statement why she says this, but it 
is reasonable to suggest that the 
idea of being indomitable may be a resistance strategy to a growing awareness of racism and 
sexism. At the level of language, Alicia is not only responding to a cultural script, but flipping it, 
!!F'!and subverting the expected
 , White, middle
-class norm to challenge hegemony 
(Alim & 
Smitherman, 2012)
. Similarly, AliciaÕs idea of Black women being Òtoo strong to stopÓ is a critical way of 
reading the song, not just in terms of race, but also in terms of gender. This is an example of a 
Black girlÕs critical literacy is built around an awareness of the way
s racism and sexism 
influence representations in the media. In this case, Alicia is refusing to position Aunt Sarah as 
negative because of her strength, which the dominant discourse on gender would debased as 
Ôunfeminine,Õ but instead positions her as a fi
gure whose fortitude is an attribute rather than a 
flaw.
 AliciaÕs next move is a discussion of the second narrative in the song, that of Saffronia.   
She describes her as Òthe white woman,Ó who says ÒI donÕt mean to brag, but IÕm going to marry 
a rich man.
Ó In doing so, Alicia highlights the role of race within the gender category, which uses 
controlling images of Black women as unfeminine to position White women as highest rung on 
the ladder of desirability 
(Collins, 2004)
. For example, Collins writes Óblue
-eyed, blonde, thin 
White women could not be considered beautiful without the Other
-Black women with A
frican 
features of dark skin, broad noses, full lips, and kinky hair 
(Collins, 2000, p. 98)
.Ó In ÒFour 
Women,Ó Simone centers the issu
e of African features as beautiful in a non
-hierarchial way, and 
Alicia picks up this ranking in her analysis of the ÒWhiteÓ lady.
 It is significant that Alicia describes the mini
-dialogue as a ÒbragÓ because it suggests 
that, in her view, White women are 
aware of their racial privilege in conjunction with their 
gender, and proud of the resulting higher status awarded to them because of it, at expense of 
Black women. Further, the idea of being married to a rich man is extended to Ò...and heÕs going 
to take 
care of me!Ó which positions the white woman as an object of matrimonial desire, and 
!!FF!entitled to the economic benefits therein. It is unclear in this dialogue if Black women are 
excluded from desirability, marriage, and economic stability, by virtue of rac
e. However, in 
describing the White woman as bragging, Alicia is revealing her understanding the hierarchies of 
racism and sexism in black sexual politics, from the perspective of a black girl. 
 When Ebony, jumps in to correct Alicia, saying Òshe said yell
ow!Ó, she brings the 
conversation back to the lyrics of the song. While AliciaÕs interpretation of SaffroniaÕs narrative 
is conflated with white womanhood, perhaps because of her father, who is described as ÒrichÓ 
and Òwhite,Ó it still reveals insights int
o how Alicia sees race and gender at play. However, 
Ebony brings us back to the topic of skin color. In the following exchange, the girls unpack the 
idea of not just race, but also biraciality, and what that means in terms of gender.
 Ebony:  she said yello
w! Carleen: So do you think itÕs about a woman whoÕs only white?
 Alicia:  No, I think sheÕs mixed, like
ÑÒHeÕs gone take curr of me!Ó
 Carleen: Why do you think sheÕs mixed?
 Alicia:  Cause she said that she has some white in her because Ôhe forced my mother 
late at night; like he raped her mother
 Carleen: Ok, and?
 Alicia:  Her mother was probably a slave, thatÕs why she said her mother did not like her.
  This quote gives us a information about where the girls think colorism conflicts originate 
in Black womenÕ
s relationships, further helping us to answer the second research question by 
demonstrating how the girls collaborate to understand representations of black femininity. After 
Alicia accepts the ÒyellowÓ correction, she finds the text to support the idea th
at Saffronia is 
biracial, demonstrating that literacy practices, such as constructing an argument, are embedded in 
the social realities of life outside of school, and attuned to the social dynamics of her role in book 
club (Finders, 1994; Mahiri, 2004). Ye
t, Alicia still holds on to the idea that Saffronia occupies a 
position of a woman who is taken care of, even in the context of rape, by virtue of her having 
!!FE!Òsome white in her.Ó The privileging of whiteness is reflective of the idea of colorism, wherein 
privilege is awarded on the basis of closeness to a white European beauty ideal (Brooks, Brown, 
Hampton, 2008). In this anti
-Black ideology, physical features such as straight hair, light skin, 
thinner lips, and a narrow nose are prized due to non
-Africanne
ss, and the girls in book club are 
aware of how this is mediated by both race and gender 
(Evans Winters, 2010)
. In according 
Saffronia similar status as the White woman she previously described, Alicia is demonstrating 
her awareness of the hierarchy of colorism and aesthics, in terms of the master narrative 
(Harris, 
1990). Further, Alicia demonstrates that within the Black female community, thi
s hierarchy is 
connected to that of the larger female category, and that she has to say something about it in 
order to resist this hierarchy 
(Wissman, 2007)
. This demonstrates that the girlsÕ engagement with 
text produces counternarratives, and that the book club can function as an identity
-affirming 
counterspa
ce (Carter, 2007)
. As Alicia
 brings the historical context of the rape of black slave women by white masters 
into the conversation, she is indicating that the sexual violence suffered by Black women has a 
role to play in SaffroniaÕs narrative, as well as in her relationship to her mo
ther. While the 
mother is not mentioned in the lyrics, Alicia muses about enmity between the two, but it is less 
clear if the cause of it is the rape, or the resulting higher status of Saffronia than her mother, due 
to her White features. In talking about 
this possibility, Alicia demonstrates awareness that 
relationships with the opposite sex, the act of sex, and even sexual violence, plays a role in how 
women of different races are perceived. Even within the gender category, the status of object of 
desire 
versus object of violence informs how women relate to one another across color lines 
(Collins, 2000)
. !!E)!CRF theorists of education would suggest that the girls are coming to unders
tand the 
diversity of Black female experiences, and from this understanding are in the process of 
developing resilience as a strategy for self
-advocacy 
(Evans Winters, 2007)
. In this section of the 
conversation, the girls have described how Black women experience life differently from other 
races of women and are detailing what race and skin color have to
 do with these differences. The 
girls are using historical context in the context of colorism. That they do so suggests that they 
bring their multiple selves to the their literary engagement. This is important because it means 
they can bring all of their f
unds of knowledge, their community memberships, their resources to 
the reading task, in order to make it authentic, relevant, and most importantly, transformative 
(Alvermann, 2010; Moje et al., 2000; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992; Paris, 2009; 
Tatum, 2008; Winn, 2010, 2011)
.  Transformative litera
cy practices empower students to reject 
hegemonic narratives about their communities, and instead construct narratives about themselves 
and people like them for their own liberation 
(Morrell, 2007)
.   It is also true that they have begun to interrogate the role of sexual relationships, and 
their influence in shaping the hierarchy within the fema
le gender category, thus giving 
themselves space for another emerging identity: that of themselves as romantic partners/adults.
 Black boys, black girls: Adolescents on the Politics of Aesthetics
  In this section, I argue that the girlÕs journals demonstrat
e an awareness of the different 
spaces adolescent boys and girls occupy within the Black community. Just as the girls discuss 
themes of economic status, and race privilege within the gender category, they also write about 
status and privilege in ways that 
suggest their engagement with text is multi
-faceted and includes 
a critique or questioning of Black boysÕ masculinity. Additionally, the role of sex in determining 
!!E(!gender roles for black girls is something Ebony addresses in her written response to the 
dis
cussion, which details not only the differences between Black boys and girls, but also 
describes her reactions to the song. In this written response, which I meant as a way to capture 
final thoughts on the discussion and give me time to set up snack before
 departure, Ebony details 
the differences she sees in how black boys and girls are perceived differently when engaging in 
the same behaviors. For example, Ebony references Òchillin with the homies,Ó which she 
interprets as ok for boys, but gets girls label
ed a 304. In doing so, she reveals a facet of Critical 
Girlhood Literacies
, a critical awareness of sexism viewed through a lens of ageism
.                Figure 
7: Ebony's Journal #2
 (see below for transcription)
 (ÒBlack Boy
    Black Girl
 Sex=respect
    Sex=hoe
 Loving the crew=respect
  LTC=slot
 Clothes saging=respect
  CTS=tramp
 This song was tell about different races first 
 brave, black was strong, white rich, tan 
 prostitute, brown depressed.Ó   
)  In the first half of this resp
onse, we can see EbonyÕs awareness of differences in 
perceptions based on gender within the ÒBlack boys/ Black GirlsÓ dichotomy she sets up. While 
sex is one aspect of behaviors that extends to clothing, as well as social relationships, she also 
!!EC!views the 
actions boys take as consistently resulting in respect, while the same actions for girls 
result in a variety of negative labels, such as Òhoe,Ò Óslut,Ó and Òtramp.Ó In depicting the 
imbalance of these perceptions, Ebony is describing the pressures of being
 both female and 
Black from the perspective of an adolescent, and also questioning why ÒrespectÓ seems to be a 
constant for boys, but not for girls. This suggests that she is not only aware of an imbalance in 
the level of respect accorded to Black girls, b
ut also questioning the validity of the respect given 
to the boys.
 The idea of ÒrespectÓ has a long history in the world of youth culture, especially in the 
development of hip
-hop feminisms and Black Female Literacies, as detailed by Pough (2002) 
and Richa
rdson (2002). Young women, perhaps even preteens, have long been aware of the 
imbalances in respect accorded to Black women in contrast to Black men due to both race and 
skin color. In the following discussion, the girls describe the different levels of at
traction 
ascribed to boys and girls with dark skin.
 In talking about the novel, 
The Skin IÕm In,
 the girls sometimes related people at school to 
people in the story. In the following example, the girls describe one of their male classmates, 
Travis, as simi
lar to a character in the story, yet they also use their notions of skin color and 
gender to characterize him.
 (girls whispering, giggling)
 Carleen: What is so funny?
 Alicia: Davis was in this book!
 Carleen: He acts like a girl?
 Alicia: Yes, a girl!
 Ebony:
 Davis D?
 Carleen: Actually, there is something cute about DavisÉ
 Alicia: Myyyy Davis?
 Carleen. How is he your Davis?
 Alicia: Well, he was, but then he got mad at me!
  !!E%!In this exchange, the girls do connect the characters in the book to characters in real 
life, 
in an instance of participant examples, demonstrating that text engagement in book club is 
characterized by the joint emergence of academic learning and social roles 
(Wortham, 2005)
. This suggests that these depictions of Black
 middle
-schoolers are in some ways authentic enough 
for the girls to recognize, and so activate their own funds of knowledge to interpret the characters 
within the book 
(Moll et al., 1992)
. In this exchange, thereÕ
s some contest between Alicia and 
Ebony, about the idea that Travis acts like a girl, and who exactly claims ties to him. In the next 
exchange, I tried to prompt them to describe him, and here we can see them using their ideas 
about skin color and gender t
o characterize Davis.
 Carleen: Ok, hold one second so Davis is a fairly dark
-skinned guy, right? As opposed to 
Eric and Shawn?
 Ebony: Yes.
 Carleen: Do you think it works the same for girls as it does for guys? As far as the dark
-skinned problem?
 Ebony: Wel
l no, no
 Carleen: ok, how does it work differently?
 Keisha: No, because boys... they can have anything
Ñgirls they got mops
-  In this exchange, the girls talk about different standards of beauty for Black boys as 
opposed to Black girls. In saying Òboys...th
ey can have anything,Ó Keisha suggesting that the 
stringent Eurocentrism that characterizes aesthetic appeal for Black girls is absent from the 
aesthetic appeal of Black boys. This absence provides space for the privilege of Òhaving 
anythingÓ and still bei
ng considered attractive according to Keisha. This is privilege for Black 
boys that Black girls do not have. Instead, girls have to consider other features, which Keisha 
positions here as Òhaving thingsÓ like attributes, to make them appealing. In fact, th
e issue of 
Òmops,Ó also known as the politics of Black hair, are so deeply embedded in and hotly contested 
in notions of beauty, value, and sex appeal, that I had to quickly redirect the conversation back to 
!!ED!skin color. I was worried that the discussion on
 Black hair would overwhelm the rest of 
discussion time, as the endless varieties of textures, styles, and regimens provide an endless 
source of discussion. In some ways, this is one of the problems with being both participant and 
observer, and being both 
a leader and group member. In the following excerpt, the girls get to the 
nitty
-gritty of how skin
-color works differently for girls than for boys.
 Carleen: I mean in terms of skin
-color. Why does skin
-color matter? Why isnÕt the same 
for girls as it is fo
r boys?
 Keisha: Because boys
Ñyou can be dark, dark, dark, dark
 Ebony: Ok, we get the point!
 Keisha: ...you allowed to be dark and somebody would...and they still look cute! And 
girls, you donÕt!
 Alicia: -but umÕ if itÕs a girl and you dark
-dark it donÕt...
if you dark, you ugly!
 Carleen: Are you necessarily always ugly if youÕre dark?
  In this exchange, the girls are expressing their perceptions of the freedom boys have to 
still be considered beautiful outside the confines of rigid Eurocentric beauty standar
ds.  In using 
words like Òallowed,Ó Keisha is suggesting that someone, in some way has removed Black girlsÕ 
privilege, permission, or right to be considered beautiful if they have dark skin. When Keisha 
comments that boys Òcan be dark, dark, dark, darkÓ sh
eÕs saying that having an extremely dark 
complexion is something not permitted for Black girls. SheÕs also describing the degree to which 
boys can be dark, which suggests that Black girls are not allowed as many degrees of dark, if 
any. In the following ex
change, the girls discuss the ramifications of being dark on personal 
relationships, both in terms of romance, and in terms of friendship. 
 Alicia: I mean if you went to high school and college and...you will find somebody that 
will love you for you, but i
f your looks are different, they are not going to like youÉ.
 Keisha: Or you might have friends who are like you, like shooott!
 Carleen: Ok, so is that just because you have dark
-skin or it might be because..?
 Keisha:  It might be, because MaleekaÉ I mean M
aleeka wasnÕt like she was living in 
the woodsÉ
 !!EG!Carleen: Maleeka lives in the 90s right? So is it just MaleekaÕs skin thatÕs giving her 
problem or is it (like you said) that her M (m?)om sews her clothes, seems like she 
doesnÕt have very much money...
 Alicia: DonÕt talk about money
Ñshe just stingy!
           In this exchange, Alicia suggests that if you are a girl who is dark, you will have 
to wait a while to find love, because other people will not see you as an attractive partner, in part 
because of your 
skin color. On the other hand, Keisha suggests that you might have friends all 
along who are similar to you in looks. Implicit in their disagreement is the question of how much 
your looks influence how others relate to you, or identify you as valuable. Ali
ciaÕs comment 
suggests that appearance is a part of why Maleeka isnÕt considered beautiful, but attributes it to 
things money can buy, rather than phenotype, or physical features.
 While it is not clear here how Ebony connects the first half of the page to 
the second half, 
it seems reasonable to observe that there is something about the notion of respect at play here. It 
is interesting to note that she goes on to interpret the women in the song as being different races, 
Òblack/white/tan/brownÓ, while only on
e (ÒtanÓ) is linked to sex (ÒprostituteÓ). As I will discuss 
In chapter seven, outside of my researcher hat, as a Black woman, EbonyÕs interpretation of the 
tan lady is spot on, and the lyrics would support her conclusion, yet it is also significant that s
he 
attaches the label ÒdepressedÓ to the brown woman.
 Who has the right to tell these stories?:Ò Because her name is Nina, a name not 
necessarily common in this cultureÓ
-Ebony 
  In the following set of exchanges, which are responding to Nina SimoneÕs ÒFour
 Women,Ó Jasmine references the centrality of relationships in how black women understand 
themselves and one another.
 Carleen: Why do you guys think Nina Simone is telling these four stories?
 !!E&!Jasmine:  SheÕs telling about her life
 Carleen:  Is it only her 
life, or is it these individualsÕ, too?
 Jasmine:  No, itÕs the life that she going through and that she see other people 
going through.  What her mom going through, sometime what her grandma did 
and all that.
 Here, Jasmine locates the singer inside the nar
ratives she tells, either through her 
own experience, or her bearing witness to the experiences of older female 
relatives. Yet, the conversation begins to turn here, as Ebony and Keisha take up 
the issue of whether Nina is an insider or an outsider in rela
tion to the women 
whose stories she tells.
 Carleen:  ok
--So, are we saying this is not only the story of her life but the story 
of all the things going on around her?
 Ebony: I donÕt think so, I think this story got nothing to do with her.
 Keisha:  I think 
the song is made like its about somebody elseÕs life, what they 
maybe going thru
Ñnot hers
 Carleen:  Ok, soÉso you think the stories that Nina tells thru her song are not her 
personal stories and are not about her but belong to other people, who are like 
her? Why?
 Ebony:  Because her name is Nina, a name not necessarily common in this 
culture.
  While EbonyÕs line of questioning may be up for debate, her move to define the singer as 
external to the black women in the song hinges on her idea of Òthis culture.Ó
 This suggests that 
the ability or right to tell the stories in this community should be decided within that community, 
indicating that EbonyÕs feeling some sense of ownership or has a relationship to these stories, 
which would be violated or somehow tarni
shed if an outsider were telling them.
 Carleen:  Nina is her stage name, her real name is Eunice.
 ((Loud laughter))
 Monica:  Eunice??  Eunice??
 Carleen:  Eunice!
 Monica:  Eunice, her mother must have been on crack!
 Carleen:  Eunice, remember I said she was
 born in North Carolina, she was down south 
now...
 Ebony:  If I was the President, I would make that stop in South Carolina
 Carleen: Noooo, you can't! It's still a good song, right? Do you think these stories only 
belong to Nina or do think these are stori
es about  the women in her life?
 Keisha: I think it's about her and she just tried to use different personalities, so you wonÕt 
know Monica:  ÔCause how could she be like
- Keisha:  ThatÕs how she felt, she felt like she could be like her Mom, and she felt 
like
 !!E'!Monica:  Or its people she felt like she knows...
  In this turn of the conversation, we see a few more theories about the song. We've gone 
from the position that Nina is telling her own story, and possibly the stories of women around her 
to the idea t
hat one story can encompass all these experiences for one person. Keisha believes 
that by hiding the different experiences the song references behind changing names, the entire 
song is about Nina Simone, which demonstrates an attention to the diversity of 
roles one black 
women can play within one person's experience. It is key to note here that Keisha's 
understanding is that Nina can "play" or in this case, share the experiences of only the women 
she knows through kinship, or family relationships. KeishaÕs 
comments suggest that the song, or 
perhaps Nina's black female experience, is an amalgamation, or composite of the experiences of 
the black women around her. The narratives may be representative of a collective identity, or the 
song itself a composite coun
ter-story.
 !!EF! CHAPTER 6: Black Girls Rock: Emotions, Empathy, and Empowerment in Black 
Girlhood Literacies
  ÒThey all worried about black people!Ó
-Ebony
   In book club discussions with the girls, current movies, news, books, and mainstream 
media outlets wer
e frequently a hot topic. While some of the girls expressed ambivalence to the 
media as a source of unbiased information, all of the girls evidenced a sense of skepticism or 
even offense at the way black women are portrayed in the media. In the conversatio
n, writings, 
and drawings that follow, we look at the girlsÕ responses to the media to better understand how 
race and gender intertwine with a variety of texts to shape Black Girlhood Literacies.
  Beginning with the girlsÕ discussion of the ÒBlack Girls Ro
ckÓ award show, this chapter 
demonstrates how the girls interpret/read themselves as raced and gendered 
beings/readers/writers, as well as how they take up narratives of their favorite celebrities, who 
were a constant topic of conversation and journal entr
ies. These interpretations inform our third 
question: what do these engagements tell us about how identity and text interact in the reading 
experiences of female black adolescents and in their negotiations of identity as Black young 
women?
  Like the girls 
in the seventh grade, discussions on these celebrities became sites of 
contest, where the girls could try out different ideas, theories, and concepts about Black 
womanhood. Rhianna, a pop singer, and Raven Symone, an actress, presented the girls with a 
dil
emma on the role of morality in relationships, while Lindsay Lohan presented them with 
another moral conundrum. In the case of Rhianna, whose tumultuous relationship with her pop 
star ex
-boyfriend was colored by domestic violence allegations, the girls' di
scussions centered 
!!EE!around questions such as why she was engaged in the relationship, what she was getting out of it, 
what they would do in her place, and whether it was a wise decision to give a troubled ex
-partner 
a second chance. Raven Symone presented t
he girls with different set of questions, such as 
whether or not being homosexual was a permanent state, if it was possible to perform T.V shows 
as a heterosexual character while being a gay or lesbian actress, and whether being homosexual 
was a choice. Re
search on adolescentsÕ responses into sexuality in the media suggests that 
preteens like the girls, focus on relationships with peers, where dynamics of sexuality can color 
studentsÕ interactions 
(Brown, Stee
le, & Walsh
-Childers, 2008)
. In literacy education, 
discussions of homophobia and heterosexism can run the danger of being overlooked in the haste 
to address Òbullying 
(Christenbury, Bomer, & Smagorinsky, 2010)
. Ó Further, the education 
experiences of queer students, which includes individuals who are pansexual, gay, questioning, 
transgender, lesbian, intersex, and bisexual are rarely discussed i
n the context of race 
(Kumashiro, 2001)
. Thi
s conversation leads us to expect that studentsÕ questions of sexuality 
within race and gender are ripe sites for examining the interactions between texts and identities.
  In one particular book club meeting, centered on investigating teen magazines and th
eir 
portrayals of Black girls, the girls' discussion of these two celebrities began to evidence themes 
of morality, as indicated by the repeated coding of words like 'respect, proper behavior, and 
inappropriate responses'. 
 As we discussed the celebrities,
 the girls once again began to challenge 
the boxed notions of Black womanhood given to them; yet, this time, an overtly moral, and 
sometimes religious overtone characterized this conversation. In addition, the girls' writings 
about the "Black Girls' Rock" 
awards show characterize a sometimes
-positive, sometimes 
negative aspect of the role of Black girls in one another's lives.
 !!())!Black Girls Rock: Color, Race, and Achievement in the Media
          The annual ÒBlack Girls RockÓ awards show airs on BET every fal
l, and is a showcase of 
the work ordinary and extraordinary women and girls to together under the auspices of the Black 
Girls Rock, Inc. organization
13. The awards program was originally developed in 2006 by 
Beverly Bond, an entrepreneur, DJ and entertainer
, as a mentoring
-based non
-profit to promote 
the arts to young women of color for empowerment. At its core is the mission to promote a 
critical dialogue about the images of Black women in the media. Between the show
-stopping 
awards ceremony, volunteers thr
oughout the country organize workshops, camps, and dialogs 
around the country with girls of color between the ages of 12 and 17. The Queens Camp, a two
-week summer experience, is a central event to the organization. The movement has only gained 
momentum si
nce its inception, and is widely thought of as one that showcases the advocacy of 
black women across industries such as sports and entertainment, as well as that highlights role 
models such as pioneering Black women whose roles in history may otherwise be 
overlooked, 
such as Marian Wright Edelman, the 2013 Social Humanitarian Honoree, and first Black women 
admitted to the Mississippi Bar Association, who also organized the Poor PeopleÕs Movement 
with Dr. King, and founded the ChildrenÕs Defense Fund.
 In boo
k club, I used the topic of the BGR awards show to bridge the issue of self
-definition between the novels 
The Skin IÕm In 
and 
The Road to Paris
 by asking the girls to get 
discussion started by writing. In the following writings, we tried to capture the Qui
ck-Writing
-Prompt (QWP) question Ò Have you heard of ÔBlack Girls RockÕ? What does it mean to you, and 
why?Ó (Carey, FN 2
-7-13). !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!13  From <http://www.blackgirlsrockinc.com/>
!!!()(! Figure 
8: Monica's Journal #3
 (ÒBlack Girls! Black girls rock (thatÕs also a televised 
event every y
ear). We are different, we run the world. I have nothing against white girls 
its just that we are different in some way.  Just because we are African
-American does 
not mean we have bad attitude.  It doesnÕt matter what race you can have as much 
attitude as
 you want. In my opinion Black Girls standup for theirself better than white 
girls do. Black girls are powerful and inspire the new generation that is coming along. 
Black girls make this world a better place.Ó
)          In this journal entry, Monica is wri
ting about the awards show specifically, and begins by 
identifying the event, but also using the slogan as a complete sentence, ÒBlack Girls Rock.Ó In 
doing so, she not only reiterates the motto of the BondÕs program, but affirms it as a statement, 
demonst
rating her belief in it as matter
-of-fact. In her explanation of Òwe are different, we run 
the world,Ó we can see Monica beginning to sketch out her definition of black girls experiences 
by using ÒweÓ in the collective sense, as Keisha did before in her in
terrogation of 
 ÒFour 
WomenÓ, as well as possibly referencing world
-class entertainer BeyonceÕs hit single ÒGirls! 
!!()C!(Who Run the World?)Ó As one of few music artists who employs an all
-female band
14, BeyonceÕs ÒSugar MamasÓ band and stage image is one that i
s inclusive of all women of color, 
including Latina and Japanese women. In contrast, Monica begins to bring out the uniqueness of 
the black girl experience by placing a disclaimer (ÒI have nothing against white girlsÓ) and a 
boundary (ÒItÕs just that we ar
e different. In
-some
-way.Ó). Both of these are based on her 
perceptions of race, which suggests that she understands the role of race is to create or facilitate a 
distinction within the shared category of gender.
 As she continues to explain, Monica pushes 
back on the assumptions often forced on 
Black women and girls; specifically, that Òwe have a bad attitudeÓ which she notes is Òa 
stereotype.Ó One of the most frequent terms the girls used was Òattitude,Ó which included 
behaviors such as Ôtalkin backÕ or Ôt
alking with attitudeÕ which can be perceived by adults as 
disrespectful but can also serve as an emotional defense mechanism for the girls. Koonce 
reconceptualizes the conversation on attitude to be something a person can use with their own 
discretion to s
tand up for themselves and claim power in instances where they feel powerless, 
such as schools that foster environments of disrespect toward Black girls 
(Koonce, 2012)
.  Similarly, in this case, Monica talks about attitude as something all women can have, regardless 
of race, if they elect to do so, ra
ther than something that is mandated by race. In response to 
MonicaÕs writing, Keisha and Ebony had a few things to say on the topic as well. In the next 
conversation, the girls are trying to suss out the connections Black women have to attitude, to 
one an
other, and to women of other races. In the context of Black Girls Rock!, this conversation 
centers on the effects of Black girls seeing the awards show.
 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!14 [2] From <http://vitaminw.co/culture/beyonces
-all
-female
-band
-challenges
-music
-industry
-stereotypes>
  !!()%!ÒCarleen: 
 Do you think black women relate more to other black women? 
 Or do you 
think they relate more
 to other, different kinds of women?...white women, Asian women, 
Latino women?
 Keisha: 
 No, they relate more to black women.
 (chatter)
 Carleen: 
 Wait, one at a time! Why? What do yall think?
 Monica: 
 If they theyÕre the same color, no matter the race thoug
hÉ Ebony: 
 I think that like a black woman can relate to another black women.
 Keisha: But I donÕt think a lot of other black women can relate to other black women like 
they go thru bigger things likeÉLetÕs say I met her and was like hey, like can be like
--I can relate to her and she can relate to me. 
 And so like, after we spend so much time 
together. 
 Maybe to other people, they might not get it?
 ÉItÕs like we may be like, not together. Maybe to other people itÕs not like we together 
or be that, um
---like,
 have an attitudeÉ the way we was raised up to be. Like, not talk 
back, disrespectful to our elders and stuff like that and some people werenÕt raised like 
that so we not gonna relate to each other.Ó
               In this excerpt, Keisha disses the issue o
f how Black women ÒrelateÓ to one another. 
Keisha first replies that Black women relate more to other Black women. Monica responds by 
complicating the question in referencing ÒcolorÓ in terms of skin
-tone, as opposed to Òrace.Ó This 
mention of color echoes
 our examination of ÒFour WomenÓ in that it highlights the role of 
colorism in shaping Black womenÕs experiences, and how they might be shared within and 
across the category of Blackness. It extends this conversation by discussing the experiences 
Black wom
en have as they Ògo through bigger things likeÓ meeting one another. Then Ebony 
chimes in to support MonicaÕs claim that Black women connect more to other Black women, 
indicating that Black women share at least some experiences as a basis for relating to o
ne 
another. To extend her idea, Keisha then begins to wonder how and why Black women can relate 
to one another. First, she says, ÒBut I donÕt think a lot of other black women can relate to other 
black women like they go thru bigger things likeÉÓ which adds
 some complexity to her original 
statement that Black women can relate to one another, by suggesting that there are also Black 
women who do not relate to one another. Keisha goes on to say that 
 !!()D!ÒLetÕs say I met her and was like hey, like, we can be like
--I can relate to her and 
she can relate to me. 
 And so like, after we spend so much time together. 
 Maybe 
to other people, they might not get it?Ó 
  Keisha suggests that the relationships Black women have with one another, through 
meeting one another, talki
ng, and getting to know one another over time are the foundation for 
getting to know to each other. 
 In saying  ÒI can relate to her, and she can relate to meÓ Keisha 
suggests that interpersonal relationships between Black women are built on reciprocal 
willingness to understand one another. Further, Òafter we spend so much time togetherÓ indicates 
that over time, these bonds grow. By puzzling over Òother peopleÓ and specifically, their 
understanding of Black female relationships, KeishaÕs indicating that th
ere may be a distinct 
aspect of Black womenÕs relationships that people outside of them do not understand. As a 
response to ÒFour Women,Ó  this helps us to answer our research question by revealing that the 
nature of race and gender, at least to Keisha, ar
e intertwined in the relationships they witness, 
how they understanding building community with other Black women, and how they interpret 
Black womenÕs relationships in the song. 
  My interpretation of KeishaÕs statement is rooted in my experience as Black
 women. My 
personal history and research background lead me to believe that Black women are particularly 
located in ways that only reveal their humanity to similarly
-situated people. Because of how the 
media constructs Black women as unfeminine, and beyond
 love or sympathy (Ladson
-Billings, 
2009), thereÕs a history of overlooking the humanity of Black women, especially as it relates to 
the warmth, gentleness, softness, tenderness of the feelings and emotions encapsulated activities 
like bonding with one ano
ther through friendship. I wonder, though, is Keisha acknowledging 
that Black women are rarely thought of as deserving the empathy of one another? 
 !!()G!Significantly, Keisha expresses that there may be something about how Black women 
relate to one another that
 other people do not understand, or Òmight not getÓ, and gets closer to 
describing that something when she suggests:
 ÉItÕs like we may be like, not together. Maybe to other people itÕs not like we 
together or be that, um
---like, have an attitudeÉ the way w
e was raised up to be. 
Like, not talk back, disrespectful to our elders and stuff like that and some people 
werenÕt raised like that so we not gonna relate to each other.Ó
  In this excerpt, KeishaÕs discussion of the way other people perceive the Òtogether
Ó-ness 
or perhaps the unity of the Black female experience reveals that she understands that there are 
different experiences based on Òthe way we were raised up to be.Ó In thinking of divergent 
values as a basis for not relating to one another, KeishaÕs ag
ain assigning a humanity to Black 
women as a group that is uncommon in the media, and in the context of schools that can 
mischaracterize Black girls as loud, and aggressive without understanding the full social, 
cultural, and emotional context of these act
s as the girls understand them (Brooks, 2007; 
Fordham, 1993; Henry, 1993; OÕConnor, 1997; Richardson, 2002; Wissman, 2007).
 This 
misappropriation means that while Black girls may see these acts in terms of self
-defense, adults 
in schools may not be aware t
hat they are unintentionally performing microagressions against 
them, which are informed by media images of Black women as harsh and unyielding. Research 
(Grant, 1997) suggests that Black girls are not seen as having the same multidimensional, 
complex need
s as other learners, and instead have been cast as ÒenforcersÓ or Ògo
-betweensÓ in 
the classroom. These differences in how much and what kinds of teacher attention Black girls 
receive are the result of differing teacher perceptions of Black girls as emotio
nally, socially, or 
personally sensitive to how they are treated.   
 Here, it is important to note that the kind of theorizing Keisha is up to is rarely as explicit 
as she discusses it, and even more so, the dominant discourse on Black women obscures both 
!!()&!questions of ÒhowÓ and ÒwhyÓ 
 Black women relate, or donÕt, to one another, through ignoring 
the diversity within the Black female experience
-across race, ethnicity, and most importantly, 
age. By opening up the space to address these questions, Keisha is d
aring to articulate ideas that 
are often left unsaid. Outside of the Black female community, these ideas are rarely displayed in 
the media. In
 the pauses between ÒlikeÒs and ÒumsÓ are the seams of secrets whispered over 
coffee and through tears at kitchen 
tables. I suspect that one of the reasons KeishaÕs articulating 
these ideas is that she has picked up on the narratives of Black female relationships from the 
women in her life, such as her mom, aunties, and sisters, and thereby evidencing an Organic 
Phemi
nism at the juncture of adolescence.
 ÒThey all worried about black people!Ó: Race, Gender, and Celebrities in the 
Media
     The girls revealed a skeptical perspective on the veracity of the media through their talk about 
the news, especially as it related 
to race, gender, and celebrities. In some discussions, the girls 
talked about the media as a possible source of misinformation about black people. In the 
following exchanges,  I ask Keisha to 
elaborate on her statement that:
 ÒThey all worried about 
black p
eople,
Ó and in doing so the girlsÕ reveal that they engage with the media as a text, 
especially as it relates to race and gender, from a critical perspective.
 Carleen: 
 When you say ÒtheyÓ what do you mean?
    Ebony: 
 Like the news and press and stuff. 
 Like they didnÕt mention Cassie and 
Rhianna for theeee longest. 
 But they keep putting on Lindsey Lohan and they 
donÕt want to say she has a drug problem. 
 But they keep talking about Rhianna 
and Chris Brown!
 In this quote, Ebony is defining the media as mul
timodal, and comparing the frequency 
and type of stories shared about Black celebrities as opposed to White ones. Ebony addresses the 
!!()'!mainstream mediaÕs silence around budding Black artists when she says, Òthey didnÕt mention 
Cassie and Rhianna for theeee 
longestÓ. She highlights this as a problem, especially when 
juxtaposed with, in her view, a favorable portrayal of Lindsay Lohan. Ebony believes that Òthey 
donÕt want to say she has a drug problemÓ, unlike either Cassie or Rhianna. But instead of 
celebrati
ng non
-drug-using Black women, Ebony notes that the story most frequently circulated 
featuring a Black female celebrity is that of Rhianna, and mainly in the context of an abusive 
past relationship (Òthey keep talking about Rhianna and Chris Brown!Ó), rath
er than her record 
sales, dramatic fashion sense, or successful cameos in action films. 
 In noting these three things, 
Ebony is telling us that she knows something about how the media works to perpetuate stories of 
violence against Black women, while overl
ooking, ignoring, and thereby concealing the 
criminality and drug usage of White women. In this, she is demonstrating a critical awareness 
that the media is not reporting accurate stories without bias, but is an active agent in perpetuation 
image
-smearing 
campaigns against Black female celebrities.
         The girlsÕ conversations on celebrities reveal that their critical media literacies are 
connected to mediaÕs role in controlling or distorting reality, as Ebony discusses in the next 
excerpt. For example,
 in saying ÒI see white crack heads but they donÕt ever talk about them, 
yet you hear about black crackheads all over the news,Ó Monica demonstrates her belief that the 
discourse on criminality is largely based on race. What she reveals here, is that the c
onnection 
between these false media portrayals and its effects on how people behave in real life is 
startling.
 Carleen: 
 Ok, I have question: do you think that black women like Rhianna are 
treated differently by the media than white women?
 Monica: 
 Yes! !!()F!Ebony: 
 I think because of the color of our skin that they hate on us and I think 
black movie stars and white movie stars are separate because you always hear on 
the news where black people getting beat, but you donÕt ever hear about white 
people get beat. 
 I see white crack heads but they donÕt ever talk about them, yet 
you hear about black crackheads all over the news, like you see a black bums on 
street. 
 ThereÕs a black man there a  white man here and the white people will 
throw fifty cents to the white g
uy and nothing to the black man. 
         In MonicaÕs example of  ÒthereÕs a black man there a white man here and the white 
people will throw fifty cents to the white guy and nothing to the black man,Ó she talks about the 
effects of this unbalanced represe
ntation. By telling us that she believes race is a major deciding 
factor on which stories get aired on the news, sheÕs indicating that the news is not always 
accurate in how it portrays people of color. According to Monica, the result of this inaccuracy is
 Óthe white peopleÓ have an inability to help the black bum, but do help the white bum by 
Òthrow[ing] fifty centsÓ to him. Through this example, MonicaÕs demonstrates the real
-world 
effect of mischaracterizing Black people on the news. This is a critical r
eading of the news as a 
text, and demonstrates that media analysis in book club is deeply influenced by race and gender. 
 In the following exchange, the girls begin to debate why it is that the media portrays 
Black people in general, and Black women more s
pecifically in an consistently negative way. 
More specifically, the girls try to determine where this narrative of Black criminality is coming 
from. 
 Ebony
: well, by Chris Brown and Rhianna, it wouldnÕt be me, but when they were 
talking about this black la
dy that had stole something about that song, talking 
about she a smooth criminal like that song!
 Keisha: 
 But when Lindsey Lohan was out there stealing a diamond necklace and 
they are still not talking about that necklace
Ñgold and diamond necklace!
 Carleen
:  Holdup holdup, so from KeishaÕs point black people are treated 
different more by everybody
Ñor is it just by white people, just about everybody, 
or just by black people?
 Jasmine: 
 I wonÕt say that black people who only get treated bad by white people 
but there are some white people who will treat black people wrong, but there are 
some Asians, Hispanics, etc., that treat black people wrong
 !!()E!Monica: 
 I disagree, I disagree
    The girls' debate on the mediaÕs role in the spreading and keeping alive the story 
of the 
abusive relationship illuminate not only the extent to which they are highly literate in readings of 
popular culture, but also how their ideas about Black women's roles in romantic relationships and 
roles in crime are shaped by the mediaÕs refusal t
o portray White women as criminal, i.e  Ò
they 
are still not talking about that necklace.
Ó The girls' exchanges on the topic were characterized as 
grounded theorizing about young Black women, like they will be in their mid
-twenties, ie Òit 
wouldnÕt be me.Ó 
 We can see that Rhianna's story is instructive as one way of being a Black women, and it 
is also an instance of moratorium, or of trying on different identities (in this case, that of a 
celebrity), by saying, "it wouldnÕt be me." This instance of moratori
um is critically important to 
mark, because here, Rhianna's position as a victim is not one that sits well with the established 
archetypes of Black women 
(D. G. White, 1999)
. While Mammy, Sapphire, and Jezebel are all 
familiar tropes, there are no trope which show young Black women as victims. In this example, 
the girls are constructing 
for themselves, through projecting themselves into Rhianna's situation, 
as unlikely as it is portrayed to be by the media; yet statistics on domestic violence would 
suggest otherwise. It is important identity work that they do here, because it demonstrates
 their 
ability to fill in the gaps of knowledge about Black girlhood as a collective, and also to separate 
the social fictions perpetuated by the media from the social facts of their lived realities. For 
some, this may be an example of playing
-pretend or m
ake
-believe, but it is also an instance of 
sense
-making, without the backdrop of sympathetic cultural models. As the girls negotiated their 
ideas about Black and White celebrity women, the narrative of Black womanhood, and girlhood 
began to shift into that
 of a critical media viewer.
  !!(()!Producing Media: Empathy and Affirmation through Poetry
          While the girls often wrote in their journals in response to writing prompts I offered 
them, they also took the time to write their own poetry outside of book cl
ub, as well as to make 
drawings of their own choosing. Being careful to ask if they would like to share, or for me to see 
their poems and sketches, I was able to get a look into how the girls were critical media 
producers, as well as consumers, as demonstr
ated in the poems and drawings below. Morrell 
(2007) reminds us to look at students as
 producers, in order to understand how they use critical 
literacy to create liberating media.
 Smiley Face: Shape Poems and Emotional Expression
  The girlsÕ writings in book club also focused on broader themes in the media and also 
served an emotional need 
for the girls to express themselves. In the shape poem below, MonicaÕs 
ÒSmiley FaceÓ stands as an example of the ways the girlÕ generated empowering writings for 
themselves, on their own terms. Although I began some book club sessions with a personal 
check
 in, such as Òhow are you feeling today?Ó to get a sense of how the girls were feeling. In 
these poems, notice the phrases and words she uses to make the eyes and eyebrows. 
 !!(((!    Figure 
9: Monica's 'Smiley' Poem
 (ÒSmily Face  Beli
eve in yourself. Stay confident and 
powerful. 
      Never give up and always love yourself. Just be random hold your 
ground.Your face canÕt be
  mad. Bookclub to be happy just put a smile on.Ó
)  It is perhaps most significant that this poem lacks any refere
nces to race and gender, and 
focuses on empowering phrases like Òbelieve in yourself,Ó Òstay confident,Ó and Ònever give up!Ó 
This demonstrates another layer to Black Girlhood Literacies one 
that
 emphasizes that when the 
girls choose to write freely, they 
can do so without engaging historic debates around Black 
womanhood, and girlhood, by extension. Just as the girls are able to articulate critical stances 
toward the mediaÕs role in perpetuating damaging images of Black women, there is another 
aspect to the
ir BGL toolkit: the ability to no discuss race and gender when it doesnÕt suit them 
(Carey, under review).
 !!((C! Figure 
10: Ashley's 'Color' Poem
 (ÒThe color blue, donÕt mean sadness, it could mean 
happiness colors arenÕt assigned a em
otion. They mean whatever you make them feel. So 
to me blue means happiness.Ó
)  In the colorful poem, AshleyÕs writing about the symbolism we associate with different 
colors, and how emotions and colors are individual, rather than universal. In AshleyÕs po
em, 
notice the multiple colors she writes with, in an attempt to convey her message through her shape 
poemÕs literal figure and its words. I really liked this poem because it reveals how creative 
Ashley can be, even though she was one of the least vocal pa
rticipants in book club. It also 
shows how adept she is at thinking in both the abstract and concretely about her own emotions. 
AshleyÕs poem helps to describe the kinds of work the girls engage in at book club, which is 
social but also emotional in terms 
of personal development. 
   !!((%!Figure 
11: Monica's 'Teachers These Days' Poem
 (ÒTeachers these days  Gym is a bore 
when you down like Monroe. Math is fun when you have Mrs. Durcette. Social studies is 
WTF? when you have Atlas.  Jaime
 is Great cuz its to me to socialize but finally would.  
Lunch is horrible but fun have the wicked bxxx of the west and east Mrs. George. Ms. 
Daveto is computer by she hates to change with her over the top self. Mrs. Jackson is 
naptime is everyone sh sh sh
hhhÉ.. Teachers these daysÓ
)          In contrast, MonicaÕs poem (Figure 11)
 ÒTeachers These DaysÓ expresses some 
frustration at the ways schools constrain teacher
-student relationships. In pointing out that certain 
teachers donÕt like 2 Chains, only let s
tudents listen to gospel, spend lots of time ÒsshhhÓ
-ing 
students, and making math ÒunfunÓ, Monica can be read as venting some mixed emotions about 
the older women at school. 
 While most of the schoolÕs teachers were Black, and all of the teachers listed i
n the poem 
are, there seems to be a definite notion that these teachers need to change. While we did get the 
chance to discuss why it sometimes seemed that teachers were being mean when in fact, they 
were acting out of concern for the entire class, or were
 trying to protect students from harmful 
influences, to some of the girls, it seemed like teachers were unfairly hard on the girls as opposed 
to the boys. 
 This illustrates that the girls approach interpersonal and intergenerational 
!!((D!relationships and inter
actions with a sensitivity tow
ard sexism viewed through a lens
e of ageism, 
or that the girlsÕ ideas about being treated differently than the boys are rooted in their own ideas 
about age
-appropriateness and how teachers ÔshouldÕ treat boys and girls the sam
e, instead of 
receiving harsher punishments for the same behavior infractions. These themes are largely 
echoed in the girlsÕ drawings as well as their writings. 
            Figure 
12: Ashley & Ebony's 'Beauty' Drawings 
 (left): 
 ÒToday we I will take never 
fight over a dude name Worm. DonÕt fight for stupid things. Women in Crisis. Be positive. 
Black girls in the book is fake and cruel, mean stupid.Ó  (center): She to black and ugly.  
(right): Beauty is within.
   In the girlsÕ dr
awings, particularly AshleyÕs (left, right) and EbonyÕs (center) drawings 
below, we can see that the images the girls themselves produce of Black women are 
simultaneously sites of renegotiating what it means to be a Black girl, and a site where some 
hegemo
nic notions of Black womanhood remain. In AshleyÕs response to 
The Skin IÕm In,
 she 
writes about the feelings Maleeka is experiencing as she is bullied by Char and her clique of 
!!((G!girls. 
One of the key elements that she draws is the frown face on Char, which
 she discussed as 
being the real reason Char was mean to Maleeka. When I asked if the girls knew why some girls 
are mean to others, AshleyÕs 
response was that some girls do not like ÒthemselvesÓ so they take 
it out on other girls. In her drawing, Ashley un
derscores this with a distinct frown to reflect the 
inner world of girl
-bullies as she understands it. This instance is one of many where the girls 
were able to demonstrate self
-awareness and emotional maturity in terms of being able to put 
themselves in o
ne char
actersÕ shoes. This evidences that reading comprehension is developed 
alongside emotional intelligence for Ashley in this case. While she does not write about being 
either a victim or a bully, AshelyÕs understanding of the social dynamics that make 
some girls 
targets ( Maleeka being Ôtoo black and uglyÕ) and other girls the bully. In locating the problem 
with Char, Ashley demonstrates that the individua
l choice to bully exists within
 the social 
framework of colorism. In this way, she views the colori
sm aspect of racism through an age
-based lens. In conclusion, when I looked closely at the writings and drawings of the book club 
girls, I witnessed them practicing an agency and emotional sophistication that they are rarely 
given credit for in the researc
h literature. It is my hope that educators working with Black girls in 
the future will be able to position them as producers of media, and see similar effects. 
 !!((&!CHAPTER 7: Real Talk in Implications, Discussion, and Conclusions
  By means of this research, 
I learned many things about
 the plural answers to important 
questions about Black teen female readers. To demonstrate, in this chapter I will revisit the 
research questions of this study to generate implications for research methods, revisit theories for 
studying urban adolescent readers, and comment on the particular capacities and needs of 
African American young women that this study foregrounds. These capacities represent one
 resource on which schools and educators committed to the democratic project of 
education might 
capitalize.
 Unlearning the Myths: Black Girls as Collaborative Literacy Leaders
  One of the research questions that this study seeks to address is: What is the nature of 
Black girls reading in an after
-school book club? In chapters four to 
six, we see the girls using 
reading, writing, and dialog for a variety of reasons. First, the girlsÕ negotiations about what titles 
to read demonstrate how reading becomes collaborative, social, and emotional. It is collaborative 
in that the girlsÕ offer a
nd take up titled with flexibility to hearing one another. It is social in the 
sense that while the girls are choosing books, they are also aware of the shifting sands of being 
part of a new group, and sorting out what role they will occupy in the book clu
b setting. Fine
, it is emotional in the sense that while the girls invest value in the titles they discuss, they also are 
aware of the need to build bridges to one another and possibly to avoid factions in such a small 
group. Therefore, we can say that the
 nature of reading in the book club was multiple/pluralistic, 
in that it provided a space for the girls to collaborate on multiple levels, each of which plays a 
part in one central issue of adolescence: the task of figuring out oneÕs place in the environme
nt, 
!!(('!and in the multiple social worlds each girl occupies. The girlsÕ collaborations demonstrate that 
pervasive myths about Black female adolescent readers did not always hold true in book club.
 Myth #1: Black Teen Girls are Reluctant Readers 
  In the face 
of a very sparse to non
-existant school library, the book club girls talked about 
finding reading material at t
he public library, and the book
store. The girlsÕ background 
knowledge of different borrowing systems, such as interlibrary loan, at different bra
nches 
suggests that they are experienced patrons. In addition, the girlsÕ use of the free choice table to 
take home two to three books per week indicates that they took advantage of opportunities to 
read. While the free choice table included a range of boo
ks, the girlsÕ choices about what to read 
were highly individual. While Keisha cleaned up any poetry and writing books she could find, 
Tasha preferred to read mystery, Ebony liked romance and Jacqueline Woodson novels, Ashley 
liked science fiction, and Mon
ica read cook books and advice books (Carey, field notes, 4
-12-13). When the girls did not like a book, in the
 case of Tasha and After Tupac and D Foster, they 
bought them back to trade for something else. Typically, they looked for new titles each week to
 replace the ones they read from the previous week, and took extra books to read over long 
breaks. None of the girls seemed to like biographies of Black historical figures, informational 
texts, or classics like The Phantom Tollbooth or The Golden Compass, 
which lingered on the 
table week after week until I donated them to the school library. Even when I presented the girls 
with different formats, such as audio books on CDs, they responded by taking them all at once. 
While it is possible that this is because
 students choosing to participate in a book club might be 
already be inclined to like reading, I did see the free choice titles being circulated around in the 
118 girlsÕ classroom during DEAR time by non
-book club girls. While the girls also liked to read 
!!((F!magazines about popular culture, like Teen Beat, Teen Vogue and Seventeen, when I bought in 
an Essence article on reality TV and teens, the girls gave it a lukewarm response. In short, any 
myths of reluctant readers were not evidenced in the girlsÕ pattern
s of book taking, sharing, and 
discussing in and outside of book club. As educators, this reveals several important questions for 
future research. In terms of methods, this suggests that researchers should carefully construct 
opportunities to examine Black
 girls in groups, rather than individually, and to practice data 
collection techniques that center the voices of the participants. Specifically, observing the 
students across book club, and classroom spaces gave me the opportunity to see how the girls 
were
 using the books informally between their friends, even in formal spaces like classrooms. In 
order to capture these dynamics, it is important to structure some opportunities to witness the 
girlsÕ interactions with other students, and to step outside of the
 role of book club leader to that 
of a careful observer. In answering the questions in this study, I am left with more questions for 
future research, such as how might book clubs supplement a culture of reading that already exists 
among Black girls? What k
inds of opportunities do Black girls need to read what they want, at 
their own pace, and without interference from assessments? What is the role of the race and 
gender of the protagonist in whether Black girls choose to read a title? How does the informal 
space of an after
-school book club influence how and what it means to read? What is the role of 
genre in predicting and supplying books Black teen girls want to read?
  Myth #2: Black Teen Girls are Emotionally Immature
  The second question this project add
resses is: Through engagement with these texts and 
one anotherÕs ideas in conversation, how do the young women define what researchers call 
!!((E!Òculturally relevantÓ literatures? From the data shared in this dissertation, the girls demonstrate 
that their notio
n of Òculturally relevantÓ literature is based on how it enables them to practice 
personal skills and social skills. Critically, we see the girls using literature discussion as a tool to 
do emotional work, in terms of bonding with one another in the book c
lub space, and in terms of 
practicing self
-definitions that are resistant to hegemonic ideas of Black female inferiority, i.e
., crafting counter narratives. Both of these tasks demonstrate that the girls are gaining social skills 
in terms of interpersonal 
relationships, and in terms of maintaining a strong sense of self. 
According to CRF, we can see themes of self
-definition and race and gender intertwining in the 
girlsÕ discussions and writings, and especially in the counter narratives they construct. In t
erms 
of methods, this study suggests that using the framework of counter narratives to design the 
study and analyze the data is a very promising method for uncovering the voices of Black girls. 
Counter narratives are: Òa method of telling the stories of th
ose people whose experiences are not 
often told (i.e
., those on the margins of society)Ó and in the case of the book club girls, these are 
both the result of collectively discussing texts in the book club, and an 120 important constant in 
the girlsÕ writin
gs about being Black girls. While Òthe counter story is also a tool for exposing, 
analyzing, and challenging the majoritarian stories of racial privilege,Ó in some ways positioning 
Black girls as writers and readers in the field of literacy education is in
 itself a counter narrative 
(Solorzano and Yosso, 2002). Black girls telling their own stories runs counter to Òmajoritarian 
storiesÉof gender, class and other forms of privilegeÓ (p.27). In terms of centering their 
experiences, and the experiences of wome
n and girls around them in their literacy practices, 
through using counter narratives as a framework, we see the girlsÕ privileging their own ideas, 
rather than the stereotypes others may have of Black women and girls. Their consistent valuing 
!!(C)!of Black wom
anhood is perhaps a response to knowing the obstacles facing Black women, and 
choosing to be resilient in the face of them (Evans Winters, 2007).
 According to CRF, we can see themes of self
-definition and race and gender intertwining 
in the girlsÕ discussi
ons and writings. Critically, we see the girls using literacy as a tool to do 
emotional work, in terms of bonding with one another in the book club space, and in terms of 
practicing self
-definitions that are resistant to hegemonic ideas of Black female inf
eriority, i.e 
crafting counter narratives. Counter narratives are: Ò...a method of telling the stories of those 
people whose experiences are not often told (i.e
., those on the margins of society). The counter 
story is also a tool for exposing, analyzing, a
nd challenging the majoritarian stories of racial 
privilege (Solorzano and Yosso,
 2002).Ó Black girls, among marginalized communities need 
these because Ò...the ideology of racism creates, maintains, and justifies the use of a Ômaster 
narrativeÕ in storyte
lling ÉÓ and most importantly, Ò...majoritarian stories are not just stories of 
racial privilege, they are also stories of gender, class and other forms of privilege (p.27).Ó In 
terms of centering their experiences, and the experiences of women and girls a
round them in 
their literacy practices, we see the girlsÕ privileging their own ideas, rather than the stereotypes 
others may have of Black women and girls. Their consistent valuing of Black womanhood is 
perhaps a response to knowing the obstacles facing B
lack women, and choosing to be resilient in 
the face of them.
 In t
he previous chapters, both girl
sÕ written responses can be seen as evidencing a unique 
role for Black women, a key tenant of CRF. In Ebony's assertion that
 Black girls are different 
from 
Bla
ck boys, and Jasmine's assertion that Black girls are different from Black boys, there is 
an emerging/rooted concept of the Black female experience as unique, even at eleven. 
For 
Keisha, this poem has personal, emotional, and social ramification in the boo
k club space. As 
!!(C(!agents, the girls are shaping a role for themselves as fosterers of a space to be vulnerable, show 
scary emotions, and find support. This instance shows that, within the book club, the idea that all 
black girls are loud and aggressive is n
ot consistent. In fact, KeishaÕs concerns about being the 
target of cyber
-bullying via image distortion remind us that that the girls in book club are still 
preteens growing up in an increasingly digital world (influenced by the social context of 
damaging 
images of Black women.). By showing themselves to be effective agents of personal 
boundary
-keeping, friendship maintenance, and bond
-building through collective literacy 
practices, the girls are seeking similar ground with one another in book club.
 Myth #3
: Black Girls are Loud Aggressors 
  The third question this study addresses is: what do these engagements tell us about how 
identity and text interact in the reading experiences of female Black adolescents and in their 
negotiations of identity as Black you
ng women? In the previous chapters, both girlsÕ written 
responses can be seen as evidencing a unique role for Black women, a key tenant of CRF. In 
Ebony's assertion that Black girls are different from Black boys, and Jasmine's assertion that 
Black girls ar
e different from Black boys, there is a rooted concept of the Black female 
experience as unique, even at eleven. For Keisha, this poem has personal, emotional, and social 
ramification in the book club space. As agents, the girls are shaping a role for them
selves as 
fosterers of a space to be vulnerable, show scary emotions, and find support. This instance shows 
that, within the book club, negotiating Black female identity is an ongoing process, and the idea 
that all Black girls are loud and aggressive is no
t consistent. KeishaÕs concerns about being the 
target of cyber
-bullying via image distortion remind us that that the girls in book club are still 
preteens growing up in an increasingly digital world that is also influenced by the social context 
!!(CC!of damagin
g images of Black women. By showing themselves to be effective agents of personal 
boundary
-keeping, friendship maintenance, and bond
-building through collective literacy 
practices, the girls are seeking similar ground with one another in book club. Black g
irlsÕ 
emotional capacities to experience empathy, bear witness to one anotherÕs struggles, practice 
vulnerability, and create a sense of shared common experiences with other another is one 
potential resources for educators working on the democratic project
 of schooling to examine. 
Through answering these research questions and uncovering these myths, I began to realize what 
was missing from the literature was a framework attuned to focusing on adolescent Black girlsÕ 
particular voices, capacities, and smart
ness as readers and writers. In the hopes of helping more 
researchers to have tools for studying Black girls, I offer one theoretical and analytical 
framework, Critical Girlchild Literacies (CGL), for future use.
    !!(C%!Critical Girlchild Literacies: A Framew
ork for Readin' an' WritinÕ Sistahs
   Figure 
13: Critical Girlchild Literacies (CGL) Illustrated
  In order to better understand how preteen Black girls engage in literacy, I will describe 
below one potential tool to collect and an
alyze these studentsÕ discourse in oral and written form. 
It is my hope that this theoretical and analytical framework, ÒCritical Girl
-child Literacies,Ó will 
help researchers and educators interested in further uncovering Black girlsÕ literacy practices t
o shift the discourse on girls in urban education. In naming this framework, I have used ÒcriticalÓ 
to indicate that it is specifically concerned with the dynamics of privilege, power, and resistance 
!!(CD!to oppression in its many intersecting forms. These inte
rsections have disparate effects on 
different populations, and I highlight in particular the intersections of race, gender, 
and age 
through using 123 Ògirl
child,Ó a term used by the character Sophia in WalkerÕs 
The Color Purple
 to describe the struggle for
 self-definition, autonomy, and ultimately safety as a Black girl 
resisting domination. Specifically, in 
Ways with Words Heath
 notices the differences in how 
communities receive and construct gender, and the resulting effects of how girl children are 
treat
ed in the context of community literacy. Additionally, UNICEF uses this term to recognize 
the specific challenges facing female children internationally. Because this term works at so 
many levels, in this study I use the term ÒgirlchildÓ to deliberately in
dicate that accepted norms 
in how girl children are treated are specific to cultural contexts and thus those of the Black 
community are distinct. Finally, I use the term ÒliteraciesÓ to indicate that the book club girlsÕ 
multiple analyses of movies, songs,
 television shows, poetry, and novels represent a widening of 
definitions of texts and readings that result in a form of resistance specific to this group of Black 
girls. I arrived at CGL through reflecting on the analysis of the data in this study 
metacog
nitively. Below, I explain how the themes of this project led me to conceive of the CGL 
framework.
        !!(CG!  First Principle: Humanity
  Figure 
14: Huminity Principle Illustrated
  In chapter four, we analyzed discourse data to arriv
e at conclusions about the complex 
emotional, social, and individual purposes at work in the Book club girls' discourses and literacy 
124 practices. These purposes paint the girls as thinking, analyzing, feeling, perceiving, and 
resisting agents of change,
 to contrast the flat, one
-dimensional representations of Black girls in 
the research literature. Given this complexity, it is the first principle of CGL that the full 
humanity of Black Girls has not been realized in the research literature on learners in 
cities. 
More specifically, this means that the full humanity of Black Girls has not been described in the 
research literature on learners in cities, especially regarding the socio
-emotional aspect. In order 
to address this gap, researchers using CGL seek t
o humanize Black girls by acknowledging that 
!!(C&!the intersections of race, gender, and age coalesce to form distinct standpoints from which Black 
girls engage in literacy. These standpoints are indicative of the multiple ways there are to be a 
Black girl, and
 are dynamic so that they may respond to shifts in cultural context. The purpose of 
humanizing Black girls in the literacy research literature is to take seriously the imperatives to 
recognize the history of dehumanizing images of Black femininity, and to 
join the girls in 
refashioning these concepts to restore Black womenÕs humanity.
  Second Principle: Voice
  Figure 
15: Voice Principle Illustrated
  I use the plural to indicate that it is imperative to address the idea that the Bla
ck female
 experience is monolithic in any way. By highlighting the wide range of mannerisms, accents, and
 ways of being that Black girls already display, researchers can begin to sketch out space for
 collectively and individually crafting new images, roles
, and ideas about what it means to be a
 black girl in todayÕs world. By helping students to understand the diversity within Black girlsÕ
 experiences, it may be possible to equip students with new material for recognizing, rejecting,
 and revising narrow, op
pressive ideas about Black girls. In helping students to grow their
 !!(C'!vocabularies, researcher can empower them to name their own oppressions and use literacies to
 find ways to resist them in their everyday lives.
 In chapter five, we analyzed discourse data 
to arrive at conclusions about how Black girls
 think about the diversity of Black female experiences and the sense of collective ownership.
 Given this proprietary understanding, it is the second principle of CGL that the Black Girls
 posses a unique claim t
o the Black female experience. These students' voices are central to
 understanding this intersection; thus research methods such as counter narratives that allow
 participantsÕ readings, writings, and talking, that focus on discourse are integral to describ
ing
 their experiences. In order to best describe this claim, researchers studying Black girlsÕ literacies
 must center the voices of these students through research methods such as counter narratives that
 allow participantsÕ readings and writings to reveal 
their potential as discursive identity work to
 uncover how Black girls understand themselves, and the connections between Black girlhood
 and Black womanhood. 
  !!(CF!Third Principle: Critique
  Figure 
16: Critique Principle Illustrated
  In chapter six, we analyzed the written responses to the question "how would you
 describe Black Girls and why?" to begin describing the raced and gendered aspects of the Book
 Club girls' critical media awareness. Given the interrelated nature of these aspe
cts, it is the third
 principle of CGL that a
geism is foregrounded in the
 simultaneous critique of racism and sexism 
is necessary to self
-definition
 of Black girls for Black girls. A simultaneous critique of racism, 
sexism, and ageism is necessary
 to self
-definition of Black girls for Black girls; it is also key to 
find and address instances where
 dominant narratives are reiterated, to investigate why.
 Taken together, these tenants describe a theoretical framework for analyzing the literacy
 experiences of Bl
ack girls. CGL is not meant to be a definitive end
-point, but instead a way to
 extend the conversation on Black girlsÕ literacies. Just feminism is a journey where practitioners
 are continually learning growing, changing in their knowledge of it, is it imp
ortant to see Critical
 girl
-child literacies as also evolving. Ther
efore, the purpose of these tena
nts is to guide, and not 
!!(CE!to prescribe, researchers who are thinking about ways to help Black girls amplify their voices
 through critical literacy practices.
  Discussion: Implications
  In better describing the role of texts in literacy engagements, and demonstrating the
 intertextuality of the Book Club girls ' analyses, the study has several implications for
 policymakers. Because recent waves of educational ref
orm favor national standardization and
 canons instead of local knowledge and texts, policy
-makers should reexamine local cultural
 context and texts as possible resources for increased literacy outcomes. The role of 
extendedlearning opportunities is also on
e avenue for addressing historic inequalities in 
education.
 Therefore, policy
-makers focused on increasing equity and achievement would do 
well to focus
 on the cultural contexts, texts and locations of literacy for Black girls, among the 
diversity of
 learn
ers in cities.
 The first implication is that texts need to activate the funds of knowledge that students
 bring to the classroom to be culturally
-sustaining (Paris, 2012). This requires policy
-makers to
 look at the demographics of school districts through s
ocial, cultural, and historical lenses to
 understand the identities of learners in cities. On a related note, the definitions of texts need to be
 revised not just in terms of digital texts like ebooks and textbooks that have accompanying
 websites as study 
tools. If the goal is culturally
-sustaining education that empowers students,
 policy
-makers need to create learning environments that center the texts that students analyze
 and engage in their everyday lives such as music, web 2.0, TV, and movies.
 The seco
nd implication from this study is that there is a need for extended learning
 opportunities that provide students with instances for critical literacy engagement with texts
 !!(%)!around (as in, located in their everyday lives) and about (as in, centered on studen
ts' 
identities)them. By taking these implications into consideration, policy
-makers can create 
learning
 environments that build on the students' prior knowledge, and approach informal 
learning as an
 opportunity for increased critical media literacy.
 The th
ird implication from this study is that there is a need for more room in the
 curriculum for reading across genres and media. In considering the ever
-evolving world of
 technology, it is imperative to keep in mind the kinds of readings students perform in th
eir everyday lives. Looking more closely at studentsÕ informal uses of literacy, especially on social
 media like Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, may provide insight for policy
-makersÕ strategies for
 decreasing the gap between preteen Black girlsÕ in and out
 of school literacy practices.
 These implications are offered in the hopes that they might help change
-makers in
 education to plot a path forward centered on all students, especially Black girls, Õ informal
 literacies and areas of expertise. The girls in b
ook club demonstrated that their knowledge is one
 resource that stakeholders such as education researchers and teachers have overlooked. In
 positioning the girlsÕ ideas as central rather than peripheral, educators gain an additional avenue
 for achieving gr
eater educational equity in urban education. Aside from being bright, funny, and
 wise young people, the girlsÕ experiences in book club offered a look at them as readers and
 writers. It is ironic that studies of black girlsÕ learning demonstrates that they
 receive the least
 amount of academic instruction, but in book club their writerly selves came out to shine. It was
 clear that even when faced with the realities of cyber
-bullying, racism, and sexism, the girlsÕ
 strategies for navigating their worlds inclu
des reshaping traditional ideas of femininity to include
 the qualities they find most helpful. Their budding ideas of femininity reveal that they already
 see their race
-gender identities a tool for combatting the microaggressions they experience in
 !!(%(!their d
aily lives. These implications are intended to connect the girlsÕ ingenuity to theory, as one
 means of revising the agenda in urban education to more fully include all urban students,
 especially those whose voices have long been absent from the conversatio
n.            !!(%C!Conclusion: Real Girls, Real Talk
  In working toward Culturally
-Susta
ining Pedagogies (Paris & Alim, 2014), I am sensitive 
to the critique that one to one matching of identities like race, ethnicities to pedagogies that 
center on that singul
ar identity are unlikely to fully equip students with the multi
-literacies they 
will need to advocate for themselves. Instead of this matching, educators seeking a more just 
pedagogy would be well
-served to look at the pluralities and multiple identities s
tudents bring to 
their learning in and out of school. To help move us all toward recognizing these pluralities, I 
offer CGL as one means of entering into the conversation on the multiple experiences of one 
segment of the heterogeneous urban learner populat
ion.
 I am also sensitive to the critique educators have to recognize that the importance of
 taking a balanced view of studentsÕ literacies. For example, while I was excited to see
 students 
fashioning new narratives about Black girls, I was frustrated by th
e constant repetition
 of phrases 
like Ò304,Ó and ÒthatÕs so gay,Ó even after conversations on why that is not acceptable
 language. 
I am encouraged by the call to address problematic
 behavior
 when our students engage in it 
because it suggests that CSP is a 
process, not a
 destination. This leaves us room as educators and 
people who work with teens to continue
 fostering growth for ourselves and our youth.
 As indicated by MaÕAyan (2012), one of the hardest conversations for educators and
 parents to have exists
 around issues of sexual activity. However, it is imperative to have frank 
and
 honest conversations about puberty, sexual agency, and dating rights and responsibilities. 
One of
 the major impediments to this in book club was the heavy risk of shaming associa
ted with 
even
 asking about these topics. 
 While I fi
elded questions about anatomy, P
h balance, pregnancy, PMS, chromosomes,
 and tampons, my main strategy was to talk about these topics, and then to provide resources in
 !!(%%!terms of titles such as The Period Bo
ok, The Care and Keeping of You, and Deal With It!. I felt
 that what I wanted to do was supplement, but in the case of these questions, I think more
 emphasis on the whole child from kindergarten through the stage of adolescence would be
 immensely helpful t
o the teens of both genders.
 When I volunteered in the boysÕ 7th grade classroom, the issue of sexual assault came up
 in Monster. In discussing issues of consent, clear communication, and boundaries, I found that
 they boysÕ needed more opportunities to tal
k about these topics, just like the girls in book club.
  In sum, there is room in the after
-school space to talk about these topics, but is there room in the
 formal curriculum to also discuss medically
-sound sexual education?
 In conclusion, these data impl
y that literacy can be used to meet studentsÕ non
-academic
 needs. Informal literacies present educators with a wide avenue to collaborate with students, in
 terms of enabling students to empower themselves, become agents for their own interests, and
 protect
 their future. As educators, it may be hard to give up the riens of control, but we cannot
 always be around to ensure that our students, especially preteen Black girls, make decisions in
 their best interests. In recognizing the realities of this situation,
 we can only conclude that our
 best option is to help students discover their voices, practice exercising agency, critically
 examine their environments, and empower them to take charge of their literacy lives.
     !!(%D!                     APPENDICES
 !!(%G!  APPEND
IX A: IRB APPROVAL
 Initial IRBApplicationApprovalOctober 9, 2012To:David Kirkland2 Washington Square VillageApt. 2-INew York, NY 10012Re:IRB# 12-966 Category:  EXPEDITED 7Approval Date: October 9, 2012Expiration Date: October 8, 2013Title:"Reading Sistahs: Race, Gender, and Counterstories from the Extracurriculum"The Institutional Review Board has completed their review of your project.  I am pleased to adviseyou that your project has been approved.The committee has found that your research project is appropriate in design, protects the rights andwelfare of human subjects, and meets the requirements of MSU's Federal Wide Assurance and theFederal Guidelines (45 CFR 46 and 21 CFR Part 50).  The protection of human subjects in research isa partnership between the IRB and the investigators.  We look forward to working with you as weboth fulfill our responsibilities.Renewals:  IRB approval is valid until the expiration date listed above.  If you are continuing yourproject, you must submit an Application for Renewal application at least one month before expiration.If the project is completed, please submit an Application for Permanent Closure.Revisions:  The IRB must review any changes in the project, prior to initiation of the change.  Pleasesubmit an Application for Revision to have your changes reviewed.  If changes are made at the timeof renewal, please include an Application for Revision with the renewal application.Problems:  If issues should arise during the conduct of the research, such as unanticipated problems,adverse events, or any problem that may increase the risk to the human subjects, notify the IRB officepromptly.  Forms are available to report these issues.Please use the IRB number listed above on any forms submitted which relate to this project, or on anycorrespondence with the IRB office.Good luck in your research.  If we can be of further assistance, please contact us at 517-355-2180 orvia email at IRB@msu.edu.  Thank you for your cooperation.Harry McGee, MPHSIRB Chairc: Carleen Carey, Susan Florio-RuaneSincerely,Office of Regulatory AffairsHuman ResearchProtection ProgramsBiomedical & HealthInstitutional Review Board(BIRB)Community ResearchInstitutional Review Board(CRIRB)Social ScienceBehavioral/EducationInstitutional Review Board(SIRB)Olds Hall408 West Circle Drive, #207East Lansing, MI 48824 (517) 355-2180Fax: (517) 432-4503Email: irb@msu.eduwww.humanresearch.msu.eduMSU is an affirmative-action,equal-opportunity employer. Figure 17
: IRB Approval Letter
 !!(%&!APPENDIX B: PARENTAL CONSENT FORM
 This consent form was approved by the Social Science/Behavioral/Education Institutional Review Board (SIRB) at Michigan State University.  Approved 10/9/12 Ð valid through 10/8/13.  This version supersedes all previous versions.  IRB # 12-966.  "Reading SistahsÓ Study - Parental Consent Form You are being asked to take part in a research study on multicultural childrenÕs literature. We are asking you to take part because your child is female, and identifies as African-American. Please read this form carefully and ask any questions you may have before agreeing to take part in the study.  What the study is about: The purpose of this study is to learn how students respond to literature by and about African-American women. Your child must be female to take part in this study.  What we will ask you to do: If you agree to be in this study, we will conduct group read-alouds of the multicultural literature, then conduct up to three interviews with your child. The interviews will include questions about the literary elements of the story, depictions of beauty in the story, and depictions of women in the story. The interviews will take about 45 minutes to complete. With your permission, we would also like to tape-record the interview.  Risks and benefits: I do not anticipate any risks to your child participating in this study other than those encountered in day-to-day life. Benefits to your child include a greater familiarity with the elements of literature, and practice analyzing literature, which may enhance your childÕs performance in English/Language Arts classes.  Multicultural literature is an important genre of American literature, and we hope to learn more about studentsÕ responses to African-American literature.   Compensation: Your child will earn a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble bookstore for their participation, and an MSU t-shirt.  Your childÕs confidentiality will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. The records of this study will be kept private. In any sort of report we make public we will not include any information that will make it possible to identify your child. Research records will be kept in a locked file with the primary investigator; only the researchers and the IRB will have access to the records. The data will be kept for at least three years after the project closes. If we tape-record the interview, we will destroy the tape after it has been transcribed, which we anticipate will be within two months of its taping.  Taking part is voluntary: Taking part in this study is completely voluntary. Your child may skip any questions that they do not want to answer. If your child decides not to take part or to skip some of the questions, it will not affect your or their current or future relationship with Michigan State University. If your child decides to take part, they are free to withdraw at any time.  If you have questions:  If you have concerns or questions about this study, such as scientific issues, how to do any part of it, or to report an injury, please contact Carleen Carey at Carleen.Carey@gmail.com or Professor Kirkland at davidekirkland@gmail.com or 308 Linton Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824 or 517-884-6767. If you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research participant, would like to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register a complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously if you wish, the Michigan State UniversityÕs Human Research Protection Program at 517-355-2180, Fax 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu or regular mail at 408 West Circle Drive, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824.You will be given a copy of this form to keep for your records. Statement of Consent: I have read the above information, and have received answers to any questions. I voluntarily agree to allow my child to take part in the study.  Your Signature ___________________________________ Date ________________________ Your Name (printed) _____________________________________________________________ In addition to agreeing to participate, I also consent to having the interview tape-recorded.  Your Signature ___________________________________ Date __________________________  !!(%'!APPENDIX C: STUDENT ASSENT FORM
 This consent form was approved by the Social Science/Behavioral/Education Institutional Review Board (SIRB) at Michigan State University.  Approved 10/9/12 Ð valid through 10/8/13.  This version supersedes all previous versions.  IRB # 12-966.  ÒReadinÕ SistahsÓ Study-Assent Form You are being asked to take part in a research study on multicultural childrenÕs literature. We are asking you to take part because you are female, and an African-American. Please read this form carefully and ask any questions you may have before agreeing to take part in the study.  What the study is about: The purpose of this study is to learn how students respond to different versions of the Cinderella fairy tale. You must be female to take part in this study.  What we will ask you to do: If you agree to be in this study, we will conduct group read-alouds of the multicultural literature, then conduct an interview with you. The interview will include questions about the literary elements of the story, depictions of beauty in the story, and depictions of women in the story. The interview will take about 30 minutes to complete. With your permission, we would also like to tape-record the interview.  Risks and benefits: I do not anticipate any risks to you participating in this study other than those encountered in day-to-day life. Benefits to you include a greater familiarity with the elements of literature, and reading, which may enhance you performance in English/Language Arts classes. Multicultural literature is an important genre of American literature, and we hope to learn more about studentsÕ responses to African-American literature.  Compensation: You will receive a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble bookstore for your participation, and an MSU t-shirt.  Your confidentiality will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by law. The records of this study will be kept private. In any sort of report we make public we will not include any information that will make it possible to identify you. Research records will be kept in a locked file with the primary investigator; only the researchers and the IRB will have access to the records. The data will be kept for at least three years after the project closes. If we tape-record the interview, we will destroy the tape after it has been transcribed, which we anticipate will be within two months of its taping.  Taking part is voluntary: Taking part in this study is completely voluntary. You may skip any questions that you do not want to answer. If you decide not to take part or to skip some of the questions, it will not affect your current or future relationship with Michigan State University. If you decide to take part, you are free to withdraw at any time.  If you have questions: If you have concerns or questions about this study, such as scientific issues, how to do any part of it, or to report an injury, please contact Carleen Carey at Carleen.Carey@gmail.com or Professor Kirkland at davidekirkland@gmail.com or 308 Linton Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824 or 517-884-6767. If you have questions or concerns about your role and rights as a research participant, would like to obtain information or offer input, or would like to register a complaint about this study, you may contact, anonymously if you wish, the Michigan State UniversityÕs Human Research Protection Program at 517-355-2180, Fax 517-432-4503, or e-mail irb@msu.edu or regular mail at 408 West Circle Drive, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824.You will be given a copy of this form to keep for your records. Statement of Consent: I have read the above information, and have received answers to any questions. I voluntarily agree to take part in the study.  Your Signature ___________________________________ Date ________________________ Your Name (printed) _____________________________________________________________   !!(%F!APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
  Carleen Carey 
 PID: A42565020
 IRB: 12
-966 Interview Protocol*Adapted from Dorinda CarterÕs Case Stud
y Assignment Models
     Interviewer
:  ÒThank you so much for participating in this project!  This interview will take no more than 60 
minutes. IÕm going to ask you questions related to your background, your beliefs about school 
and reading, gender, and ra
ce.  I want to remind you that all your answers will be confidential.  
  The interview is confidential. That means that I won't share anything you say with anyone else, 
unless you tell me about a plan to hurt yourself or someone else, or if someone is hurt
ing you. 
Anything you tell me will be private, and you won't get in trouble for anything you say. Only I 
will know what you said, so you can be honest.  If you donÕt want to answer a question, just let 
me know.  There are no right or wrong answers
ÑI want t
o learn what you think.  Does all that 
make sense?
  IÕd like to tape record the interview so that I can remember what you say, if thatÕs okay with you.  
Is that okay? You can tell me to turn of the recorder at any point, if you want.  I may publish my 
resu
lts as a book or in articles, or I might present the findings at conferences. I won't use your 
name or any other information that would identify who you are, so you can pick a code name so 
that I do not use your real name in any part of my data collection.
    If after the interview is over, you want to withdraw from the study, I'll destroy your information. 
You won't get in trouble for withdrawing. I'm going to give you my information, so you can call 
or e-mail me to tell me if you don't want to participate
 anymore.
  Do you have any questions?
 Is it okay for us to start?
  Name: _____________________________________________
 Gender: _____ Male
 _____ Female
   Background
 1. How old are you? 
 2. What grade are you in? 
 3. What high school do you attend?
 4. How long have you 
been attending this school?
 5. Where did you grow up?
 /01234$25!/!6!//7!829
:$0;<!89=2!>!?20:23
!!!(%E!  Gender Identity
 1.  Do you identify yourself with any particular gender?  If so, which? Why?
 a. Do other people generally identify you with this gender?  If not, why?
 2. In your opinion, what is gender?  How do y
ou define gender?
 3. How important is it for you to see yourself as fe/male?  
 a. How important is it to you for others to see you as fe/male?
 4. Are there benefits to being fe/male? Explain.
 5. Are there disadvantages to being fe/male? Explain.
 6. How important is it fo
r you to have friends of your gender?
 7. How important to your self image is being fe/male?
 8. Are you proud to be fe/male? Explain.
 a. Are you ever regretful about your gender?
 9. Do you believe that fe/males have made valuable contributions to society?
 10. How do you th
ink fe/males are portrayed in society?
 a. How do you think fe/males are treated in society?
 b.    Do you believe fe/males are as smart as anyone else? As successful as anyone 
else? As intelligent as anyone else? Explain
  Response to Story
 1. Can you tell me the 
best part of the story we read today?
 2. On a scale of one to ten, with one being Ônot at allÕ and ten being ÔÕstrongly agreeÓ, how 
much you like the book we read today?
 3. What do you think was the main point of the story?
 4. Which characters did you like most? Le
ast? 5. How would you describe the women in this book?
 a.  How does that make you feel?
 6. What was your favorite part of the story?
 a. Why? 
 b. Least favorite?
 7. How would you describe the main character? 
 8. If you could change any part of the story, what would if be? Why?
 9. Is this book similar to the Disney Cinderella story? How?
 a. Different from it? How?
 b. How does that make you feel?
  Racial Identity
 11. Do you identify yourself with any particular racial or ethnic group?  If so, which group? 
Why?
 a. Do other people generally identif
y you with this particular racial or ethnic group?  
If not, why?
 12. In your opinion, what is race?  How do you define race?
 13. How important is it for you to see yourself as Black/African American?  
 a. How important is it to you for others to see you as Black/Afri
can American?
 14. Are there benefits to being Black/African American? Explain.
 !!(D)!15. Are there disadvantages to being Black/African American? Explain.
 16. How important is it for you to have friends of your same race/ethnic group?
 17. How important to your self image is bei
ng Black/African American?
 18. Are you proud to be Black/African American? Explain.
 a. Are you ever regretful about your race?
 19. Do you believe that African Americans have made valuable contributions to society?
 20. How do you think Blacks/African Americans are portray
ed in society?
 a. How do you think Blacks/African Americans are treated in society?
 21. Do you believe Black people are as smart as anyone else? As successful as anyone else? 
As intelligent as anyone else? Explain.
  Race , Gender, and School
 1. Do you think race or 
gender have affected your experiences in school? Why?
 a. Probe: academic success, peer groups/social success
 2. Do you think your grades would be different if you went to a different high school? 
Explain.
 3. Do you think your grades would be different if you went t
o school with more White or 
male students? Explain.
 4. How do you think Blacks/African Americans  girls are treated at your high school?
 5. What are the different racial and ethnic groups of people at your high school?
 6. Do you believe students treat each other di
fferently based on race and gender at your 
school?
 7. How would you describe race and gender relations between teachers and students at your 
high school?
 8. Do you believe teachers treats students differently based on their race and gender?
 9. Do you think racism a
nd sexism can be a barrier to your success? Explain. 
 a. Do you think racism and sexism can be a barrier to the success of Black girls in 
general?
 10. Have you had experiences with racism and sexism in your school? Explain.
 a. How did that experience(s) make you fee
l? b. Do you know of others who have experienced racism and sexism in your school?
 11. Do you think it is important to interact with people of different racial groups and 
genders? Explain.
 12. Do you think it is important to have friends of different racial groups an
d genders? 
Explain.
 13. Are you familiar with the term Òacting White or mannish?Ó
 a. If so, what does this mean to you?  Describe Òacting White/mannish?Ó
 b. Have you ever been labeled as Òacting White/mannish?Ó Explain.
 14. Are you familiar with the term Òacting Black/w
omanish?Ó
 a. If so, what does this mean to you?  Describe Òacting Black./womanishÓ
 b. Have you ever been labeled as Òacting Black/womanish?Ó
  Wrap
-Up 1. Is there anything else that I didnÕt ask you that you would like to add?
 2. Do you have any questions for me?
 !!(D(!APPE
NDIX E: NOTES ON METHOD
 These findings, however, remain highly tentative due to the limitations of study.   The 
study included only six participants and examined their responses to only five texts in book club 
discussions.  In addition, I was an inexperien
ced book club leader. To theorize, this study 
suggests that culturally
-responsive texts can inform African
-American adolescent readersÕ sense 
of race and gender in important ways.   Given these limitations, the study thus raises more 
questions for both boo
k club facilitators and researchers than definitive claims about the 
experiences of African American girls with multicultural literature.  I explore these questions 
below.
 For Book Club Facilitators: To Lead, or To Follow?
 For book club facilitators, the s
tudy points to the need to consider using multiple 
narratives of Black femininity, and multimedia texts that differ from the hegemonic narratives in 
more than one way. For example, if race is connected to gender, and they are both connected to 
class, natio
nal origin, and sexual orientation, then in order to accurately portray the complexity 
of identity formation at the crossroads of all of these, it is necessary to have characters which 
differ from the mainstream narratives about Black women in more than on
e of these ways.
 For future book club leaders, it is important to consider questions of how you actually engage 
children and youth with questions of race that go beyond them acknowledging change in race, 
and how you get them to talk about what that means. 
In this study, I found, for example, that the 
girls did not explicitly make the connection between meanness and African
-American women, or 
meanness and women in general. I cannot be sure whether or not this issue resonated with them 
personally or that they
 recognized the connection between the trope, images of African
-American women, and their lives. In order to help students parse our the differences between 
!!(DC!women and African
-American women, there need to be contrasting books that provide youth 
with racial
 and gender differences to help draw out distinctions in their ideas about women at 
large, and women of specific cultural groups. For some students, this may provide the basis for 
analysis and comparison to sharpen their ideas. Additionally, book club lead
ers may have to push 
for them to think about their ideas of women in general, and be more explicitly about how they 
see women in general and in relation to black women specifically.
          The challenge of researching onesÕ own race, and especially in a 
segregated city like 
Midwestville, and a racially homogenous Afro
-centric school like Midwest K
-8 means that you 
can raise issues like race and gender through local or regional writers. For future book club 
leaders, it may be important to help students tal
k through and document their initial perceptions 
about race prior to entering complex conversations about race and gender.
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