Playing <i>in the Dark</i> ? Blackness, Humanity, and Studies of Black Life in Education 2012–2022

The series of high-profile Black deaths in the United States between 2012–2022 (e.g., Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor) mark an important turning point in studies of Black life in education. The increasing use of anti-Blackness theorizing coupled with the introduction of Black critical theory (BlackCrit) to the field of education has inspired new research investigations aiming to understand anti-Black racial harm more precisely. Growing interest in such study leads us to wonder how education researchers envision Black life in their work, and more specifically, the subject of Blackness and its relationship to notions of humanity. As scholars whose research demonstrates a disciplined intellectual commitment to Black humanity, we observe that a uniform scholarly conception of humanity + Blackness remains elusive. In this systematic review of 226 peer-reviewed articles, we seek to better understand (a) how education researchers conceptualize Black humanity in articles published during a period of intense social change and political upheaval in the United States (i.e., 2012–2022); (b) what specific claims they make about Black life as a result; and (c) what long-term implications emerge as a result of this knowledge production. Ultimately, this paper offers insight for sharpening the theoretical and interpretive heft of education research that probes the substance of Black people’s lived education realities, the knowledge from which is desperately needed to imagine, design, and steward education futures that all America’s children need to thrive.