The social imaginations we dreamt about improving the field of education back then are the same social imaginations that have allowed us to cultivate Black educational spaces for joy and brilliance now.
– Mike Browne and Amir Gilmore

“Demographic trends definitively indicate that most young children are members of historically minoritized groups,” write Valora Washington et al, “Nevertheless, significant legislative and political action seeks to suppress recognition of racial inequities and diminish the representation of human diversity in educational settings. Altered historical narratives reframe our shared national heritage and deny children and educators access to information that might otherwise be used to promote critical thinking, empathy, and democracy.

“Yet, unlike previous eras, the next generation of early childhood leaders face these dilemmas with a significant asset: a compelling endowment of research and resources is available to inform and inspire hopeful responses to injustice.”

During Black History Month 2024, Child Trends shared a compelling and important investigation of 100 year review of research on Black families, contributing to that “endowment of research,” including these findings:

• Black scholars have been critical to the evolution of Black family research, even if they have not always been the primary influencers of policy and policy discourse on Black families.
• Historically, entities that have funded research focused on Black families and communities have taken a problem-centered approach to understanding them, which has limited ways of identifying and addressing systemic challenges.
• Research focused on Black families has illustrated the necessity of using a variety of methods to build a comprehensive knowledge base and promote meaningful change.
• Approaches used to guide scholarship focused on Black families have shifted over time, but there is still a need for research that highlights their changing diversity.

The article also offers a timeline of research from the 1920s through the 2010s, including demographic trends, research highlights, and key takeaways for each decade.

The piece concludes with these research priorities:

1. Strengthen Black voices in research, policy, and practice.
2. Strengthen data collection, datasets, and research methods to better document Black family diversity and assets.
3. Examine sources of systemic risk and community protection for Black families.