Chapter 3: Black Women Principals as Protectors of black Children: Othermothering, Resistance, and Leadership for Community Survival

The purpose of this chapter is to explore how Black women principals serve as protectors of Black children amid the oppressive structures, policies, and practices characteristic of education in the age of neoliberal school reform. Drawing from Beauboeuf-Lafontant’s (2002) womanist tradition of caring among Black women teachers, which includes the embrace of the maternal, political clarity, and the ethic of risk, we consider the extent to which these qualities shape the leadership epistemologies, philosophies, and praxis of Black woman principals and their implications for the education of Black children in the New Jim Crow. Whether shielding Black children from the trauma associated with segregation, surveillance, and displacement or creating transformative, culturally relevant, and affirming learning environments, we seek to honor the leadership of Black women principals as protectors of Black children through othermothering, political activism, and a womanist tradition of caring in service to community uplift and survival.