Black Feminist Thought and Education

Abstract: The history of Black women's experiences as teachers and educational activists plays a central role in shaping the contours of Black feminist thought. This study examines Patricia Hill Collins's prominent text, Black Feminist Thought , alongside original oral history interviews with Collins. Centering Collins's own lived experiences as a middle school teacher and college professor, I illustrate the essential relationship between Black feminists' professional roles in education, their practices of self-definition, and their intellectual contributions. I advance Black Feminist Educational Thought as a framework for understanding the purpose and practice of education within the larger struggle for social justice.