Being Black, Teaching Black: Black Women Reflect on Teaching Agricultural Diversity Courses

According to The National Research Council, there is an increased need for Agricultural and Life Sciences (AgLS) to focus on producing a “globally competent” workforce that is sufficiently able to interact with diverse populations and solve the 21st century grand challenges by increasing the numbers of marginalized people in AgLS. The purpose of this study is to illuminate the experiences of Black women graduate instructors as they developed curriculum and taught diversity courses in agricultural education departments at Historically White Institutions. This study is theoretically grounded in Black Feminist Thought and employs duoethnography as the methodology. We found three themes across our experiences: (1) Broadening Perspectives in Agriculture, (2) The Heavy Duality of Representing Blackness and Diversity, and (3) Empowerment and Affirmation. Our study supports and exemplifies the value of the experiences and feelings of Black women in agricultural education, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and could provide insight toward helping understand their lack of representation.