Using Poetry to Foster Positive Racial Identity in Middle School Black Girls: Implications for School Counselor Practice,Preparation,and Research

Abstract

In this article, we contextualize Black racial identity in the current sociopolitical context, and present and discuss a group counseling intervention using poetry as the medium to explore issues that foster a positive sense of racial identity in Black girls. We used the phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory as a framework to unpack the group counseling lessons, which are presented in detail. We also discuss implications for school counselor practice, preparation, and research.

Keywords

Black females racial identity development group counseling poetry

During Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.’s presidential inauguration in 2021, poet Amanda Gorman performed “The Hill We Climb,” propelling the poetry art form into the national spotlight. In a 2021 Time magazine interview conducted by former First Lady Michelle Obama (2021), Gorman credited “poetry and language as the heartbeats of movements for change” (para. 7). In the interview, she also stated that people need to “break out of the pathology that poetry is only owned by certain elites” and “where we can start is highlighting and celebrating poets who reflect humanity in all of its diverse colors and breadth” (para. 9) instead of solely viewing poetry as an art form credited to dead White men. To this end, the purpose of this article is to detail a middle school racial identity group that uses poetry as the medium to discuss issues that foster a positive sense of racial identity in Black girls while also teaching students about the poetry art form.

Although both Black boys and girls experience racial discrimination and microaggressions in our society, we focus in this article on Black girls because we perceive a need for more scholarship and research dedicated to supporting, uplifting, and validating the experiences of these students. Black girls’ discrimination experiences are often understudied and excluded from the literature, which can lead to false discourse around their educational experiences (Mayes et al., 2023; Porter & Byrd, 2021; Seaton & Tyson, 2019). Indeed, many in leadership and decision-making roles, such as policymakers and school administrators, overlook the experiences and needs of Black girls, often choosing to focus attention on the educational experiences of Black boys (Neal-Jackson, 2018; Ricks, 2014). To illustrate, in recent years, Professional School Counseling has published two special issues on education and Black boys but, to date, no special issue on education and Black girls, pointing to the need for more work around the educational experiences of Black girls within the school counseling literature in particular. In essence, the impact of the marginalization on Black girls’ experience in classrooms needs to be emphasized and examined (Ricks, 2014). The 2017–2018 Civil Rights Data Collection showed that Black female students are the only group across all race/ethnicities who are, like Black males, disproportionately suspended and expelled (Gopalan & Lewis, 2022). Black girls also experience teacher discrimination, with teachers labeling Black girls as defiant, loud, aggressive, and combative (Morris, 2007; Morris & Perry, 2017). Enduring stereotypical microaggressions related to their looks is common for Black girls, with the Black female body often seen as “an aberration” (Ohito & Khoja-Moolji, 2018, p. 278), which can impact a positive sense of self as a Black female.

Although Black women and girls also suffer police violence and brutality, their stories are rarely heard and their names are frequently unknown and underreported (Geller et al., 2021). As a result, in 2014, the African American Policy Forum (n.d.) and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy developed the #SayHerName campaign “brings awareness to the often invisible names and stories of Black women and girls who have been victimized by racist police violence” (para. 1). In essence, although the discourse around school discrimination and racial stress includes but is not limited to the experiences of Black boys, experiences that Noguera (2008) eloquently detailed in his groundbreaking text, The Trouble with Black Boys and Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education, data shows that the need remains for programs in school settings to foster positive racial identity development and inclusive excellence for Black girls.

Advancing Positive Black Racial Identity Development

The racial discrimination that Black youth experience in their schools from school staff and peers can negatively impact their academic achievement (Chambers & Tabron, 2013; Chavous et al., 2008; Thompson & Gregory, 2011); therefore, understanding the need for addressing racial identity in schools is essential. Black youth must learn how to negotiate their racial identity in schools where the White culture often dominates (Hughes et al., 2011). Racial identity development scholars define racial identity for Black students as the “individual differences in Black youths’ meaning-making processes around their group membership that can help explain the variation in their academic outcomes” (Leath et al., 2019, p. 1322). The present and ongoing systemic and other forms of racism occurring in U. S. schools demands a focus on racial identity as a protective factor for Black youth. In many cases, for racialized youth, racial identity is a normal part of adolescent development. Furthermore, racial identity is linked to adolescents’ educational motivation, well-being, and psychological health, with those viewing their race positively being more likely to have high academic achievement and better mental health and well-being (Chavous et al., 2008; Rivas-Drake & Witherspoon, 2013).

However, Black students can struggle with having a healthy and positive sense of racial identity due to the systemic racism, racialized stereotypes, and discrimination they often face in school settings (Harper & Tuckman, 2006; Stoughton & Sivertson, 2005). Moreover, for Black students in general and Black girls in particular, holding negative feelings about their racial identity may lead to internalized racism by associating being Black with lower levels of intelligence. To illustrate, findings from a study on the impact of racial identity awareness showed that when Black youth have a high racial centrality (i.e., the likelihood that they link their race or Blackness to self-perceptions), they may have a lower sense of academic self-concept if perceptions of Blackness mean not being intelligent or academically capable (Okeke et al., 2009). These findings give credence to Steele’s notion of “stereotype threat,” in which Black people have internalized the belief that they are unable to have high academic attainment or are less intellectual than their White peers (Steele & Aronson, 1995). In essence, the implicit and explicit messages youth receive in their neighborhoods, schools, and society at large can shape their views on their racial identity (Rivas-Drake & Witherspoon, 2013.

Specifically, implicit and explicit racist events related to education can make Black youth feel that school is not a safe environment for them and that they do not belong at the school. These racist events can also lead to trauma responses and depressive symptoms for Black youth (Assari et al., 2018; Saleem et al., 2020; Seaton & Douglass, 2014). Such emotional responses to racial discrimination can also have long-term negative implications for Black youth’s health and their academic outcomes (Assari et al., 2017; Chavous et al., 2008). To buffer the racism that Black youth experience and to foster positive racial identities, scholars have called for school-based programs that creatively and unapologetically fuel excellence for Black youth (Steen et al., 2023).

However, the current sociopolitical landscape can make the school environment a difficult place to discuss issues of race and culture. As an example, the Parents’ Bill of Rights, an act “to enumerate the rights of parents to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of their minor children” was ratified in North Carolina in July 2023 (General Assembly of North Carolina, 2023). Essentially, this bill prevents instruction related to social/emotional learning (SEL) for students and prevents any discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity in Grades K–4. Another example is Education First Alliance, an organization pushing anti-Black sentiments in North Carolina schools. Self-escribed as “an organization fighting for parental rights and against institutional radicalization and sexualization of children” (Education First Alliance, n.d), this organization pushes agendas that oppose teaching SEL and anything related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools. A post shared on this website in 2021 is entitled “Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) Is Anti-White, Anti-Christian, and Anti-American Indoctrination” (Pointer, 2021). In summary, due to the often supported view of color blindness, which tends to downplay the topic of racial and ethnic identities (Stoughton & Sivertson, 2005), schools are places where students receive racialized discriminatory experiences. More than 2 decades ago, Robinson (1999) warned that positive racial and cultural identity is at risk if one is not able to celebrate their own race and culture and express the aspects of their race and culture with those who share in these identities. This remains evident within the current sociopolitical landscape.

Theoretical Framework

To combat the wave of anti-Black sentiments occurring in schools, we use the phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST) as a lens with which to situate school counseling interventions and programs that aim to combat racism. Essentially, PVEST is a framework that expands on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory by emphasizing and integrating individuals’ intersubjective experiences (Spencer et al., 1997). For this group counseling program, we use PVEST as a process-oriented theoretical framework to explain how Black youths’ coping strategies, either adaptive or maladaptive, are responses to stressful life experiences (Spencer et al., 2006). These adaptive or maladaptive coping strategies may become a part of a youth’s identity, with implications for life outcomes (Spencer et al., 2006). PVEST contains five constructs that youth must navigate as they work toward positive life outcomes: net vulnerability, net stress engagement, reactive coping methods, emergent identities, and life outcomes.

The first construct, net vulnerability, looks at a person’s risk and protective factors. Having more protective factors than risk factors may increase the likelihood of having positive life outcomes (Spencer et al., 2006). The second construct, net stress engagement, considers stress levels versus supports. Those having more stressors than supports can have high net stress, while those with more supports than stressors can have low net stress (Spencer et al., 2006). The third construct, reactive coping methods, addresses one’s responses to stressful experiences. These responses can be either adaptive or maladaptive, with those using adaptive coping methods having greater likelihoods of more positive life outcomes (Spencer et al., 2006). The fourth construct, emergent identities, involves the development of new identities, which are based on the revolving pattern of the coping responses chosen in response to the stressful situations experienced. The last construct, life outcomes, involves the long-term consequences of the other four PVEST constructs (Spencer et al., 2006).

We believe PVEST to be an essential framework with which to situate a poetry group for Black girls because PVEST allows for the exploration of stressors, risks, and supports that each person brings to the table. School counselors can use poetry as a medium to develop adaptive coping methods that lead to more positive life outcomes. To this end, we describe the components of a poetry-focused counseling group to foster positive racial identity with middle school Black girls.

Group Counseling Programs and Racial Identity Development

Creative school counseling interventions and programs offer opportunities for honest and supportive expression of beliefs, which can help Black students positively develop their racial identities and serve as a protective factor for them; therefore, a crucial step is providing Black students spaces to gain a greater sense of who they are by explicitly and intentionally exploring their racial identity (Stoughton & Sivertson, 2005). School counselors can be instrumental in the development of programs that help Black students navigate various racialized experiences in schools and develop a healthy view of themselves as racialized individuals within and beyond school settings (Steen et al., 2023). Culturally affirming programs can disrupt false narratives about achievement, motivation, efficacy, and competence for Black students and increase their feelings about belongingness (Gray et al., 2018). Black girls in particular could benefit from supportive environments that allow room to examine, evaluate, and explore their beliefs and attitudes toward their own racialized group (Altschul et al., 2006).

Small-group counseling, an effective method of counseling services for children and adolescents, is often used as Tier 2 interventions within multitiered systems of support (MTSS, Goodman-Scott et al., 2023). Small groups are also used at the Tier 1 level as programs that students can self-select and/or attend with less stigma attached (Beasley et al., 2024). Small groups can help students gain useful skills, information, and self/other awareness in their development. Of the different ways to provide direct services to a student population, group counseling has the advantage of allowing students a natural setting in which they can relate to each other, which can be transferred beyond the school environment. Students can use this avenue for relating to each other about their family structure, desired skill development, and life situations including life transitions, interpersonal interactions, and promoting of positive cultural identities (Shechtman et al., 1997; Steen, 2009). Further, groups offered within school settings help foster a sense of unity among other students who may share common goals or struggles (i.e., universality) as members gain insight through student interaction (i.e., interpersonal learning) that promotes social/emotional learning and academic development (Steen, Melfie, et al., 2022).

Another positive by-product of small groups offered in schools is a sense of belongingness, which children and adolescents search for at these stages in their development. The opportunity for students, especially Black youth, to openly express themselves in a nonthreatening, supportive environment is essential and helps them benefit from effective groups (Harris et al., 2020). More important, a supportive environment helps students of color to feel empowered by their intersections of identity, not limited to their cultural identities such as their race and gender, and this can lead to healthy identity development (Steen, Melfie, et al., 2022; Steen, Vannatta, et al., 2022).

When looking for an approach that allows for the development of racial identity, Shade (1981) highlighted the use of nontraditional methods, such as intense interpersonal groups, which can incorporate group consciousness and a supportive environment with sociocentric and affective emphases and are quite different from the standard approach of structured seating, silent teaching style. Nontraditional methods can also allow for cultural subjects to be highlighted in the material learned. To help promote cultural identity for Black girls in middle school, we used group counseling and poetry to encourage group interconnectedness and exploration of the racial identity of group members. When planning groups designed to help with identity development, poetry that incorporates the students’ culture, racial or ethnic identity, language, and idioms from their home life can help “validate their languages, culture, and history as topics worthy of study” (Bentley, 2009, p. 105).

Using Poetry in Racial Identity Groups

Hanley and Noblit (2009) suggested that schools developing culturally affirming programs for adolescents should design programs in which a student’s culture is an asset to be used in learning and not a source of stigma, so that racial stereotypes will not be reaffirmed. Hanley and Noblit also recommended creating programs that allow for the expression of the student’s culture to promote resilience and achievement in schools. Finally, they advocated for the use of arts (e.g., music, writing literature or poetry) to engage youth in cultural identity development (Hanley & Noblit, 2009). For example, a group observation by O’Brien et al. (2007) found that writing activities gave students a sense of agency as they created their own stories, worked together on activities that engaged them in artistic methods of writing, and displayed what they created to other group members for sharing and discussion. The students’ demonstration of their work appeared to aid in fostering positive perceptions of their writing abilities and increasing their confidence in speaking about themselves from a cultural standpoint (O’Brien et al., 2007).

Along these lines, poetry and storytelling are creative means of expanding not only the students’ vocabulary, but also their ability to use language expressively and explore syntax in a new way. Poetry can allow an enrichment of literature vocabulary while encouraging self-expression through learning about one’s cultural identity (Bentley, 2009). Further, artistic avenues such as visual arts and written expressions in the group setting nurture the development of identity by providing youth with different ways to express themselves and explore cultural issues (Veach & Gladding, 2006). Using poetry as a medium, this article’s third author co-created and facilitated a racial identity group with Black female students in an urban middle school as part of a graduate program course assignment. Following is an overview of the group, Poetic Expressions; a discussion of group results; and implications for school counselor practice, preparation, and research.

Poetic Expressions Group as a Case Illumination of PVEST

The overarching goal of the Poetic Expressions group was for Black girls in middle school to gain a healthy and positive sense of racial identity and a deeper understanding of themselves through writing poetry. The group counseling program helped students explore and celebrate cultural similarities and differences to acknowledge and capture the beauty of all people. This group was held with six female students in sixth grade in an urban middle school during the fall semester. The third author developed and implemented this group intervention in consultation with and under the supervision of the first author as part of a course assignment during her time as a school counselor in training. Although we describe six sessions, the group met seven times, with Session 6 taking place over two sessions because the group members were excited to share their culture and racial identities with the group and were mindful and intentional in the affirmations provided to each other. Within the group sessions, the students gained an understanding of and shared how they viewed themselves, their cultures, and the culture of their fellow group members through activities, discussions, and the creation and displaying of their poetry work. We next describe the group program sessions in detail and discuss how each session aligned with the PVEST framework.

To provide clarity on the positive benefits of this program, we unpack components from the theoretical framework PVEST: net vulnerability, net stress engagement, reactive coping methods, and emergent identities. Because we believe that a theoretical foundation in which to frame their counseling interventions is important for school counselors, we illustrate the use of PVEST to recognize, acknowledge, and address the racial trauma and stress that Black youth experience in schools. We only address four of the five components because the fifth, life outcomes, looks at long-term consequences, which is beyond the scope of this program.

Net Vulnerability

Students were asked to share about their family’s culture and the family members with whom they had strong relationships. In light of knowledge of the educational risk factors for students, this allowed for an exploration and discussion around the students’ family and cultural protective factors, specifically understanding how their cultural norms and values and their family bonds should be considered assets and sources of strengths on which they could rely to aid in their academic attainment and social/emotional well-being.

Student protective factors also included the knowledge gained from this group intervention. Students learned that they share many similarities. For example, several of the students shared strongly valuing family closeness and family roles. More than half related to each other when it came to who they admired most (which were mostly siblings). They found out from each other that they share similar views in labeling many of their classmates of similar ethnic background as “cousins,” although not related by blood. All expressed desire for more educational activities and reading material that related to or celebrated their race.

Net Stress Engagement

Using poetry for racial identity development provided an opportunity to assess students’ levels of stress related to their racial identity and the supports they have to offset the stress they encounter. Students shared about the harmful stressors they experience from the stereotypes and biases that exist about their race and the discriminatory and biased treatment they experience both in and outside of the school. From these discussions, students were able to use poetry as a way to fight back against the negative stressors. In essence, learning to write poetry about their culture and racial identity became a support to offset stressors.

Reactive Coping Methods

Students were able to discuss their coping methods to their racialized experiences, and in this conversation, students learned adaptive ways to address these racialized experiences. This included conversations on how to speak with teachers with whom they may have strained relationships and how to handle discord in their friendships and peer interactions. The conversation on different ways that they show emotions was well received by the students, who became excited discussing the different ways they show emotions and how people react to them. Students were able to unpack that teachers and other school staff can react negatively to their expressed emotions, and react differently when White students express similar emotions. Students agreed that this was unfair, and the group had great conversations on code-switching as a way to manage how those in White spaces react to the expressed emotions.

Emergent Identities

Having a strong sense of racial identity and correlating Blackness with positive characteristics was one goal of this group. The second goal was to teach students the poetry art form. Based on student discussions and their poetry work, students walked away with a stronger and positive sense of their Blackness as evidenced by the fact that students used more positive, richer descriptions about their identities by Session 6 than they had in Session 1. Specifically, by Session 3, students were more vocal in sharing their culture with the group than the previous sessions. There is also evidence to the fact that students gained knowledge in writing and grammar. For example, the students initially used an average of five words to describe their picture in the opening session and ended with an average of 15 words. They also seemed to gain pride in their racial identity as evidenced by their eager agreement to display their creations in murals on the school walls, in a hallway which would make their work visible to the entire school. They also disclosed sharing with their friends and families how they enjoyed the group and what their poetry meant to them.

Implications for School Counselor Practice, Training, and Research

This work has several implications. For school counselor practice, school counselors must have knowledge of racial identity development if they are truly to provide effective counseling to their racialized populations. Furthermore, school counselors must acknowledge and understand the experiences of their racialized students, especially the racialized incidents that occur in schools and how these incidents occur. With safe spaces for youth to explore their racial identities, more positive interactions between and across racial groups can occur (Rivas-Drake & Umana-Taylor, 2019). Serving as leaders in this effort is important for school counselors; as Francis and Mason (2022) stated, “Work still lies ahead as hate crimes, prejudice, discrimination, and violence have escalated in our schools” and “the school years hold prime opportunities for all children to develop a critical awareness of identity and social consciousness” (p. 57). Further, they asserted, “We have to consider ourselves healers during this time; our students need us to lead in the restoration of their spirits so they too can emerge into this world as agents of change. We cannot shy away from uncomfortable conversations about race” (Francis & Mason, 2022, p. 60).

This group intervention also calls for a school–family–community partnership approach. This group program involved partnering with the language arts teachers to incorporate their creative writing curriculum into group counseling. This is one way to create buy-in with teachers and it may make teachers more willing to let their students miss a portion of class to attend group. In these high-stakes environments where teacher performance is often dependent on how students score on end-of-grade and standardized tests, teachers can be hesitant to let students miss class, even for counseling purposes. Partnering with the teachers allows for open communication and ensuring that students will be provided with instruction that aligns with their class content.

To prepare school counselors in training to do this work, school counseling training programs must engage in critical evaluation and assess how well they prepare students to engage in antiracist counseling practices. School counselors in training need to learn how to advocate, which can be done by incorporating the ACA Advocacy Competencies into every course and designing advocacy assignments for students to complete at their internship site. In this way, school counselors in training can experience engaging in advocacy and receive support and instruction on how to deal with resistance to change that they are bound to encounter. School counselors in training also need to learn and adopt an antiracist mindset and learn the antiracist framework of school counseling (Holcomb-McCoy, 2022), which includes five key elements: “Human growth and development, antiracist counseling and consultation, policy change, dismantling of racism and promotion of racial equity, and data” (p. 12). With these five elements working together, school counselors can understand racialized populations, uplift and validate their experiences, advocate to change school policies, and use data to highlight racial disparities and advocate for racial equity (Holcomb-McCoy, 2022).

Finally, school counseling research must continue to develop and implement groups addressing racial identity development and investigate the protective factors that influence a positive sense of racial identity that offsets the racial experiences and stress that students experience. Indeed, new scholars in the field stress that researchers should turn their inquiries to unpacking the school factors that foster culturally inclusive spaces that validate and uplift racialized youth (Majors Lapido, 2022). Mixed-methods methodologies and participatory action research are ideal approaches to doing this work in schools because they provide the opportunity to give voice and agency to those whose voices are often silenced in schools.

We identified three limitations of this group intervention program. First, no mechanisms were in place to collect perception and outcome data. For any counseling intervention, data on the intervention’s effectiveness is important. Data could have been collected on students’ perceived sense of racial identity pre- and post-intervention. Considering this with data on school attendance, course grades, and discipline referrals could indicate whether school attendance and course grades improved and discipline referrals decreased after the group intervention was completed. Second, time is a factor. With high caseloads, school counselors may struggle to find time to implement a group counseling intervention and, as mentioned before, teachers may be hesitant to let students out of class who are not experiencing a mental health crisis. Often school counselors use lunch as a time to run groups, but this can be disruptive because students come in at differing times and lunch periods can be rushed and harried. A potential third limitation could arise if the school counselor does not feel competent to incorporate and teach the class content in the group intervention, which speaks to the need for a true collaboration with classroom teachers.

Conclusion

Because of the racial stress that students of color experience in school, racial identity development is important to address with youth. Furthermore, doing this work with young women is crucial as their schooling experiences are often overlooked. Black girls often have higher discipline rates and lower academic achievement, and are often viewed as disruptive and aggressive. As evidenced by the work done in this poetry group, girls of color are willing to engage in respectful and meaningful conversations around their racial identity and engage in the learning process. Showing a deep interest in learning about their lives and experiences translated to them being invested in the group, making the group much more powerful and impactful for them. For school counselors, learning to center the lived experiences of girls of color and develop ways to cultivate a positive sense of racial identity, with educational success, is vital.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental Material - Using Poetry to Foster Positive Racial Identity in Middle School Black Girls: Implications for School Counselor Practice, Preparation, and Research

Supplemental Material for Using Poetry to Foster Positive Racial Identity in Middle School Black Girls: Implications for School Counselor Practice, Preparation, and Research by Dana Griffin, Sam Steen, and Regina McCullough in Professional School Counseling

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Dana Griffin

Supplemental Material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

Author Biographies

Dana Griffin, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Email: dcgriffi@email.unc.edu

Sam Steen, Ph.D., is a professor in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

Regina McCullough is a school counselor at Earle B. Wood Middle School in Rockville, MD.

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