Pedagogy and Professional Development

Black Lives Matter: Fashion, Liberation, and the Fight for Freedom – Finding Space in the Curriculum for Black Voices Through Counter-Storytelling

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Abstract

Through counter story-telling, we outlined one Black male student’s experience in an apparel program, to give voice to his experience, and how his leadership ignited a highly-successfully, activist-related course in our apparel curriculum titled AESHM 499 Black Lives Matter: Fashion, Liberation, and the Fight for Freedom. We provide an overview of the course and the student learning outcomes, which are centered around the tenets of critical race theory (CRT). In this course, we created space for students to learn about Black identity, dress, politics, and activism in a predominantly white institution. CRT is a lens to think through race, racism, social power, and inequality. It is a way to center Black voices and Black experiences. In this course, all of the readings, assignments, and discussions about appearance, identity, and the body focused on Black identities giving much needed space in the apparel curriculum to these topics.

How to Cite:

Spencer, B. & Reddy Best, K. L., (2019) “Black Lives Matter: Fashion, Liberation, and the Fight for Freedom – Finding Space in the Curriculum for Black Voices Through Counter-Storytelling”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 76(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.8418