If you wanna be somebody, if you wanna go somewhere... you better wake up and pay attention! In this month’s episode, we’re breaking down Black education—from a teacher and student perspective. First, we discuss our experiences as Black students and how we were taught Black history (if we were taught it at all). Later, we speak with academic scholar Laz Letcher on the intersectional challenges of teaching curriculum that doesn’t center whiteness or heteronormativity. Then we wrap things up by dissecting The Chair, to see how a Black professor worthy of tenure was portrayed in the Netflix series.

Notes:

To Get To College, It Helps Black Students To Have A Black Teacher Early On
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/11/682194015/-black-teachers-helps-black-students-get-to-college

College faculty have become more racially and ethnically diverse, but remain far less so than students
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/31/us-college-faculty-student-diversity/

School Suspension Data Shows Glaring Disparities in Discipline by Race
https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2020-10-13/school-suspension-data-shows-glaring-disparities-in-discipline-by-race

The Chair Is Netflix’s Best Drama in Years - The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/08/the-chair-netflix-review/619855/

The Chair Is a Pretty Accurate Portrayal of What It's Like to Be a Woman Professor of Color. That's Why It Can Be Painful to Watch
https://time.com/6092072/the-chair-netflix-academia/

Where to find Laz Letcher:
https://www.lazarusletcher.com
https://www.instagram.com/l.nuzzles/

Laz Letcher's Recommendations:

Black Shoals by Tiffany Lethabo
https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-black-shoals

Ezili's Mirrors: Imagining Black Queer Genders by Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley
https://muse.jhu.edu/book/70042

One-Dimensional Queer by Roderick A. Ferguson
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/One+Dimensional+Queer-p-9781509523566