Black Queer Women's Experiences in Lower and Higher Educational Settings

How do Queer Black Women make sense of their experiences within educational settings? How do they engage in space-making? How do educational settings protect Black Queer Women's bodies? Through a series of in-depth interviews with individuals that identify as, are labeled by others as, or previously identified as Queer Black Women, I found that participants understood their lived experiences intersectionality and understood their experiences in educational settings as critical to their self-development. Participants described race, sexuality, and gender as overlapping systems of oppression that negatively affected their experiences within educational settings. Not only did participants experience discrimination due to their race or gender, but also due to their sexuality. This seen and/or invisible identity leads them to experience multiple axes of oppression, not only inflicted by peers and teachers, but also the institutions. The findings have implications for theories of intersectionality and queer of color critique.