Papers
Authentic Expression as a Protective Factor for African American Student Wellbeing
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In this conceptual paper, Dr. Ebony White posits that the centrality of Eurocentric values in the U.S. educational system stifles academic achievement for Black youth and other children of color. She provides valuable recommendations for teachers, mental health professionals, and parents to promote emotional and psychological well-being for Black schoolchildren.
Dr. Ebony White
Dr. Ebony White is a counselor, advocate, activist, speaker, trainer, researcher, and mental health expert. She is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Counseling and Family Therapy Department at Drexel University. She has devoted her career to supporting under-resourced, under-served, culturally rich and resilient individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Ebony has been quoted in numerous news outlets including Newsweek, Medium, the Philadelphia Inquirer, PopSugar and the New York Times. She has been a guest expert on CBS News and Fox 29 News in Philadelphia and was featured on TVC News Nigeria. Furthermore, she has done trauma work in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti, provided training to leaders in the healthcare system in Gombe State and Abuja, Nigeria, and created a mental health course for students in Tarkwa, Ghana.
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Dr. Ebony is the recipient of several awards including the Community Service Award from the NJ State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs and the Carver Youth and Family Center in 2018 and the Dr. Judy Lewis Counselor for Social Justice award from the American Counseling Association. She gave a TEDx talk, titled “You Don’t Get to Name Me,” discussing the experience of holding intersectional privileged and subjugated identities. More important than her educational achievements and awards are her identities as a daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, godmother, and niece. She lives by Ubuntu, “I am because we are, and because we are, I am.”
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Dr. Kimberlee Bow, a member of the CRESTSprogram team, interviewed Dr. Ebony White. In this interview, Dr. White elaborates on the thesis in her paper and provides personal context for her interest in this work.
Dr. Melanie Acosta
Melanie M. Acosta, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Education at Florida Atlantic University. Her research is focused on supporting African American educational excellence through improved teaching and school supports, particularly as it relates to elementary literacy in classrooms and local communities.
Her work also centers Black educators to illuminate the potential of Black intellectual traditions in transforming education and society. Prior to her work in higher education, Melanie was an elementary school teacher and a community organizer for a grassroots parent empowerment group. Her research is featured in journals such as the Journal of Teacher Education, Urban Education, Reading Horizons, and Race, Ethnicity, & Education.
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CRESTS graduate assistant, Ashlei Rabess, interviewed Dr. Melanie Acosta to gain a more comprehensive understanding of Dr. Acosta’s perspective on teaching Black children.
Black Students Existing is an Act of Defiance
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Dr. Jimmy Caldwell, Jr continues the discussion on the linkage between racial microaggressions and the development of Racial Battle Fatigue. Moreover, this paper centers on the collective impactof these transgressions on the academic development of Black students within K-12 and Black Students Existing is an Act of Defiance 3 collegiate settings and challenges acceptable strategies for addressing racial microaggressions.
Dr. Jimmy Caldwell, Jr
J.R. Caldwell, Jr, PhD, is an assistant professor at Xavier University of Louisiana’s Division of Education & Counseling. A proud graduate of Florida A&M University, he earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction with a specialization in Special Education and a cognate in Sociology of Education from the University of South Florida.
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Dr. Caldwell’s research centers on investigating interconnected paradigms that impact the educational outcomes of Black students. His current research agenda focuses on the role of racism-white supremacy and the academic outcomes of Black boys. Other areas of inquiry include critical examinations of teacher preparation programs, discovering culturally transformative school disciplinary practices, and developing educational theories that best serve the academic outcomes for Black students.
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Dr. Caldwell is interviewed by CRESTS Program Graduate Assistant, Ashlei Rabess about his concept paper entitled, "Black Students Existing is an Act of Defiance: Racial-Microaggressions, Racial Battle Fatigue and Surviving White Schools".
Healing Community Research and Practice
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This concept paper discusses some of the limitations of traditional trauma care among youth of color and examines culturally centered methods as a tool that is better suited to help educators, parents and counselors develop positive mental health outcomes for youth of color who are at risk of or suffer from race-based trauma, historical trauma, and continuous traumatic stress which can impair academic achievement and positive social development.
Dr. Samuel Burbanks, IV
Dr. Samuel Burbanks, IV is a multidisciplinary African Centered Education scholar whose research focuses on examining the casual genetic mechanisms underpinning learning preferences and affective disorders brought about by environmental stressors among people of African descent to understand why certain methods work and don’t work for this group. Dr. Burbanks has been the lead and co-author of several scholarly journal articles, presented at national and international conferences, and currently serves as a Postdoctoral Fellow for the Center for Traumatic Stress Research at the Xavier University of Louisiana.
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Dr. Sam Burbanks was interviewed by our CRESTS graduate research assistant, Ashlei Rabess. In the interview, Dr. Burbanks elaborates on the concepts and research basis for his commissioned concept paper.
