Racial biography
Racial biography meaning...
My Racial Autobiography
Recently, I made a change to my course on Culturally Responsive Leadership.
Racial biography
I asked my students to write and share a racial autobiography, inspired by Glenn Singleton's example and the work of Drs. Mark Gooden and Ann O'Doherty. Understanding one's own story of race is critical for leading for antiracism.
And so, because I try not to ask my students to do something I would not do myself, I wrote (and now share) my own story of race.
* * *
Both of my parents were children of immigrants, Irish and Italian, and they grew up in Inwood, a neighborhood of New York City filled—at that time—with other European immigrant families.
(Inwood is still a neighborhood of immigrants, though today mostly from the Dominican Republic.) My parents grew up just minutes from each other, visiting the same parks, even attending the same school (though, as a Catholic school, it had separate entrances for boys and girls).
My parents finally met as yo