Revisiting Black Feminist Thought and home-school relations in the urban south. Invited manuscript proposal submitted for forthcoming publication

This chapter addresses relationships between predominantly African American mothers and women school personnel in an urban school district in the Southeast. This analysis is based on three qualitative data sets, which were collected over a span of six years under the auspices of the Communities and Schools Together (CAST) Project of the UAB Center for Urban Education (CUE). The lead author was the principal investigator of all three studies, and two of her co-authors were co-investigators on two of the three studies. The fact that both parent and school personnel study participants are primarily African American women from diverse socioeconomic and professional statuses is significant to understanding the study’s context and interpreting its findings. Toward this end, this chapter is framed conceptually by Patricia Hill Collins’ (2000) classic Black Feminist Thought (BFT) perspective on Black women’s work, family, and oppression, along with a critical review of empirical studies on home-school relations. The chapter’s three key themes highlight urban parents’ and school personnel’s sometimes divergent perspectives on: 1) the conceptualization of parent involvement; 2) urban parents’ capacity for constructive involvement in their children’s lives; and 3) appropriate strategies for enhancing home-school relations.