Understanding Antiblackness and Loss Nearly 70 Years After Brown: Counterstories of Black Education Told by Black Teens in Beaumont, Texas

The purpose of this study was to use Black Critical Theory - an extension of Critical Race Theory - with an antiblackness concept to capture and interpret the experiences of Black high school students in Beaumont, Texas. Thus, this study explored how Black youth in Beaumont, TX, understood antiblackness and experienced loss stemming from the impact of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, decision. Through interviewing seven Black high school students in Beaumont, Texas, this study showed that Beaumont's Black students and communities have suffered losses for nearly 70 years after the Brown decision. Findings from the seven participants revealed that they perceived that they lost their narrative, lost their schools, experienced divestment in their schools and communities due to white flight, and lost their culture and identities. In addition, the study revealed that issues around educational desegregation cannot be studied effectively without considering the voices of Black students and the relationship between Black students, Black communities, Black schools, and Brown.