Black Mothers' Perceptions of the Role of Race in Children's Education

• Author: Danny Lambouths,Amber D. Williams,Stephanie J. Rowley,Meeta Banerjee,Fantasy Lozada‐Smith
• Date: 01 August 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12410
• Published date: 01 August 2017

A D. W University of Texas at Austin

M B California State University Northridge∗

F L-S Virginia Commonwealth University∗∗

D L III University of Illinois at Chicago∗∗∗

S J. R University of Michigan Ann Arbor∗∗∗∗

Black Mothers’ Perceptions of the Role of Race

in Children’s Education

Many Black parents consider racial climate

and academic quality when thinking and mak-

ing decisions about their children’s schooling

experiences. However, few studies have directly

asked Black parents about the role they believe

race will play in their children’s schooling, if

any. The authors interviewed 76 Black mothers

(Mage =34; SDage =6.67) of children entering

rst grade (Mage =6.13; SDage =0.36), asking

what role they believed race would play in their

children’s schooling. The authors found that

mothers considered the racial composition of

the school and the perspectives and behaviors of

Department of Psychology, Universityof Texas at Austin,

108 E. Dean Keeton, Austin, TX 78712

(amber.williams@utexas.edu).

∗Department of Psychology, California State University,

Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA

91330-8255.

∗∗Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth

University,P.O. Box 842018, Richmond, VA23284.

∗∗∗Department of Sociology, University of Illinois at

Chicago, 1007 W. Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60607.

∗∗∗∗Department of Psychology, University of Michigan,

Ann Arbor, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.

KeyWords: African Americans, education, mothers, qualita-

tive research, race,schools.

teachers and the administration to be important

factors when assessing the role of race in their

children’s education. Mothers were also partic-

ularly concerned about the discrimination their

sons may face because of their position as Black

boys. Given these contextual factors, mothers

considered themselves to be protective agents

through their involvement in their children’s

academic lives.

Parents are widely considered a crucial part of

their children’s educational attainment and are

arguably the closest to and most knowledgeable

about their children’s educational experiences.

Research shows that parents’ involvement in

schools, their parenting practices, and social-

ization at home have both direct and indirect

implications for children’s academic outcomes

(Banerjee, Harrell, & Johnson, 2011; Jeynes,

2007; Smalls, 2009). Although parents are

considered critical aspects of children’s aca-

demic success, they are not often considered

direct sources for understanding what aspects of

school climate and quality are optimal for child

academic motivation and success. In addition,

given the historical and continual racialized

and segregated state of education in the United

States, Black parents have unique considera-

tions when considering how they choose and

932 Journal of Marriage and Family 79 (August 2017): 932–946

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12410