Fighting for Justice Amid Anti-Black Violence

This study draws on conceptualizations of BlackCrit and motherwork, and critical counterstorytelling methodological approaches, to present and analyze Ms. Irene Robinson's drawings and poetry that illustrate her experiences as a Black mother organizing for educational justice in Chicago Public Schools. The artistic narratives and supplemental analyses shared illuminate the authors’ liberatory dreams for education while also illuminating the structural violence Black students and families face in and out of urban schools. The authors conclude the article by offering implications for educators in K-12 urban schools that support more symbiotic and justice-centered educational praxes amongst teachers and Black mothers.