‘Betwixt and between’: literacy, liminality, and the celling of Black girls

In this article the author examines the lives of formerly incarcerated African American girls of ages 14–17 who participate in a playwriting and performance program in an urban southeastern American city and who consequently find themselves ‘betwixt and between’ incarcerated and liberated lives. Through interviews with formerly incarcerated girls in this program, participant observation, and student writing, this article contextualizes these girls' experiences in a larger discourse of African American women writers and speakers being ‘celled’ throughout the history of the United States. Interviews with girls revealed narratives that challenge education research to examine these lives on the periphery with urgency.