Chapter 8: Recruiting and Retaining Black Men Educators: A Site of Resistance

In this chapter, we consider the increased national interest in recruiting and retaining educators of color—particularly Black men—to serve an increasingly diverse student population. We acknowledge the importance of diversity in the educator workforce; however, we have come to see the recruit and retain discourse as a site of resistance. While empirical evidence suggests that Black men educators improve students’ learning experiences (Egalite et al., 2015; Gershenson et al., 2017), scholars have also critiqued the racialized expectations of Black men educators to serve as role models who enact pedagogies of compliance for students of color (Bristol & Mentor, 2018; Pabon, 2016). Thus, relegating Black men educators to racialized role models may limit the impact of those who view themselves as agents of social change (Lynn, 2002).