‘Invisible’ and ‘Womanish’: Black girls negotiating their lives in an African‐centered school in the USA

The author examines a cluster of themes in the school lives of 10‐ and 11‐year‐old African‐American girls in an independent African‐centered school in Illinois, USA. Through conversation and student writings, the author illustrates that these girls position themselves in multiple and contradictory ways. In the co‐educational classroom, they seemed passive, even invisible. Yet in conversation outside of class, they were wilful, audacious, ‘womanish’ girls who attempted to bring about change in their social environment regarding continued male peer harassment. The author discusses four themes from her data: (1) school as a site of gendered/sexual politics; (2) the contradictory and multiple consciousness of the girls; (3) the necessity of a separate space for girls to work through issues of concern; and (4) the tenuousness of feminist research in a Black nationalist school. The author concludes with some questions for (Black) feminists to consider regarding the needs of Black girls in schools.