Twentieth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Black girls are sixteen percent of the female student population, but nearly one-third of all girls referred to law enforcement and more than one-third of all female school-based arrests. As the aggression and violence of Black girls have increased in United States educational institutions, there has been an increase in Black girl-centered collectives to produce social change to their current conditions. Black girl-centered collectives are groups, spaces, or organizations dedicated to the lived experiences, memories, representations, and knowledge of Black girls and young women. As the punitive policies against Black girls have increased, there has been a rise in the development of collectives and initiatives for young Black girls and women such as: SOLHOT (Saving Our Lives, Hear Our Truths), the Dancing Dolls, BlackGirlsRead, and the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women (BLSYW) Lethal Ladies. This examination employs a media content analysis on the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women (BLSYW) Lethal Ladies and the impact the collectives have on the educational resilience and higher education persistence of Black girls in the organizations. The utilization of art, dance, media, social justice, and critical mentoring allow the Lethal Ladies to develop skills to combat the various forms of violence they experience in education to go to college.

Presenters

Tiffani J. Smith
Student, PhD Education with Doctoral Certificate in Women's and Gender Studies, Claremont Graduate University, California, United States