Carrying Memory, Building Capital: Black Family Child Care Educators’ Community Mothering and Educational Equity

This narrative unfolds not only as research but as living archives of Black family child care educators’ daily acts of care, resistance, and cultural preservation. Each image and story becomes a window into the layered identities of FCCEs—community mothers, pedagogues, and cultural stewards—whose homes and classrooms are sites of both survival and joy. The photographs capture the textures of their caregiving environments: the toys worn smooth by generations of children, the kitchen tables transformed into learning hubs, the walls adorned with cultural symbols and affirmations. These visual and narrative fragments remind us that FCCEs are not simply providers; they are archivists of memory, builders of capital, and anchors of community. Together, the images and testimonies illuminate how professional identity, diasporic traditions, and educator agency converge to sustain families and resist erasure, offering a collective portrait of resilience and belonging.