Relationship Building in a Black Space: Partnering in Solidarity

Abstract

Given the persistence of anti-Blackness, the author demonstrates what can happen when Blackness takes precedence over anti-Blackness in an 11th-grade English classroom. This study uses critical autoethnography to explore a collaborative approach to teaching and learning that sustains Blackness. The author uses storying to amplify the significance of relationship building between a Black teacher and a Black teacher-researcher. This research further provides tools for transforming classrooms into sites of hope, healing, and resistance in a time when Black lives matter more than ever. In closing, the author offers the framework of justice-oriented solidarity (JOS) and highlights the power of cocollaboration to create an antiracist learning environment that sustains Blackness.