TITLE:   Black Girls We See You:  Unity Circle in Urban High School

ABSTRACT:

The absence of Black girls and their educational experiences in scholarly journals indicates they may be perceived as unimportant or invisible in such scholarship. This study examines the value and functionality of a Unity Circle, as a contemporary adaption of Paolo Freire’s Culture Circle which served to teach illiterate adults how to read through an awakening process. Thus making this a relevant model to replicate with modifications, in the schooling experiences of Black girls attending urban high schools. Research was designed as phenomenological study and was conducted using a Black Feminist Womanist lens; therefore, this study was encouraging the voices and experiences of participants to be centered and shared in the experience. Unity Circle as a model was designed to serve as the process by which participants grow their consciousness about issues that Black girls face in the school environment. As well participants were encouraged to dialogue to synthesize understanding of the impact those issues have on Black girls, and generate solutions to issues in effort to deconstruct the invisibility of Black girls in the educational setting.

THESIS DEFENDED AND APPROVED:  Fall 2016