#Say[ing]HerName as Critical Demand: English Education in the Age of Erasure

In the wake of racial violence, teacher educators, literacy scholars, and classroom teachers are looking for ways to teach about in/equities and in/justice. In this article, I position #SayHerName as an entry point for educators and scholars to think about how English education and English language arts classrooms can become spaces to address injustice against Black women. In drawing on the work of Black and decolonial feminists, I advocate for educators and scholars to teach about the lives of Black women using Black women’s autobiographies. I position #SayHerName as a critical Black and decolonial feminist demand through which students can (a) begin to learn about the historical and contemporary contributions of Black women, (b) recognize the intricate links between Black women’s lived experiences and political activism, and (c) see their lives as grounds for political and social change.