Black adolescent girls encounter multiple levels of discriminatory injustices, including racism and sexism. Invisibility is an oppressive practice and a form of gendered racism used to marginalize Black girls. This study uses intersectionality and Black Feminist Epistemology as theoretical frames to explore and define invisibility for Black girls. Using a grounded theory methodological approach, data collection included two rounds of interviews with each participant who identified as a Black girl currently enrolled in high school in the United States ( N = 13, ages 14–18, M age = 16.54). The analysis process defined invisibility and uncovered the multidimensional themes of invisibility for Black girls related to feeling a lack of support, unacknowledged, dismissed, dehumanized, unheard, minimized, and excluded. These themes make up how Black girls articulated feeling invisible and illuminated implications for their well-being when feeling invisible in school. Findings also revealed several harmful types of invisibility motivated by gendered racial stereotypes, which have implications for Black girls’ wellness and school participation.
Domonique Henderson (Tue,) studied this question.