Heroines of Their Own Stories: Lower Socio-economic Black and Hispanic Giftedness

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of racially, ethnically, and economically diverse (REED) learners in developing gifted traits and behaviors for female students who have taken part in an extracurricular online course from the northeastern United States. Gifted traits and behaviors, or giftedness, was generally defined as what might be perceived as advanced ability or the potential for advanced ability in one or more specific areas. The theories guiding this study are Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, which aids in understanding the influence of a student’s culture on higher-order mental functions originating in the social environment, and Ogbu’s oppositional culture theory, which builds on Vygotsky’s theory to help illuminate race-specific issues. The central research question was: What are the lived experiences of REED learners in developing their gifted traits and behaviors? A qualitative study using van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology approach permitted interpretation using the structural steps of Saldaña’s (2015) coding manual with the data from a survey activity, interviews, and focus groups to reflect on themes and determine the nature of the lived experiences of heroic female REED students ages 16-26 who shared the phenomenon of developing gifted traits and behaviors. The findings show that the participants answered cultural and familial pressure to excel by leveraging resources available in school and engaging in extracurricular programs and other cultural and subcultural activities to supplement their lack of gifted services in their schools. They also show that underrepresented female gifted learners face obstacles as women, REED individuals, and gifted learners that make the development of their gifted traits and behaviors extraordinarily complex and challenging.