Healing from Racial Trauma: A Consciousness Journey through Autoethnography

Abstract

The low number of Black educators in Oregon presents a problem that limits educators' careers and negatively influences the academic growth of students of color.

This study reviews the intersectionality of federal and state policies’ effects on Black educators through a framework of Black Feminist Thought and settler colonialism.

It utilizes autoethnography, which formulates social scientific problems and draws conclusions from the data of individual experiences. Academic literature lacks Black women's autoethnographic experiences in K-12 educational settings.

The study finds that working in educational settings as a Black woman educator is highly challenging. The data revealed central themes of Systematic Oppression, Trauma, and Healing, with racial trauma as the highest reported experience.

These results shed light on challenges and successes that contribute to and detract from a Black person’s likelihood of working in public education in Oregon. They illuminate the lived experiences of a Black woman educator in Oregon to provide insight, support, community, and wellness for Black educators and to inform the organizational practices of educational systems within school districts and post-secondary education.