“We … speak up … because we care”: Critical conversation spaces as consciousness-raising contexts for Black girls

In order to develop critical worldviews and confidence in their identities, Black girls should make meaning of their lived and schooling experiences. Critical conversation spaces (CCSs; Carter Andrews et al., Citation2019) centering reflection on gender and race provide environments for this meaning-making. Further, CCS curricular design should account for girls’ pre-existing knowledge and desires; likewise, CCS curricular revisions should incorporate their experiences and eventual self-described outcomes (Nyachae, Citation2016; Nyachae & Ohito, Citation2023). To evolve past adult-driven prescription, proscription, and prioritizations, we asked participants to share their reflections on the CCS pilot and their desired revisions. We sought to understand the sociopolitical ideations that arise among Black girls engaging with an in-school, CCS curriculum designed to encourage their critical consciousness of interlocking systems of oppression in their own experiences. Employing girls of color’s positive youth development (Clonan-Roy et al., Citation2016) as our theoretical framework, we analyzed individual interviews and focus group data using Rigorous and Accelerated Data Reduction (RADaR). In this article, we explore themes relating to Black girls’ intersectional awareness (diversity and multiplicity of Blackness) and their resistance and resilience (self-care and intragroup diversity) as they developed throughout the CCS curriculum. We close by advocating for the proliferation of Black girl-centric pedagogies and offering future directions for CCS research.