Perpetual Projects of Potential
A Literature Review Tracing 60 Years of Research Questions on Black Men and Boys in Urban Education
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14550263 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daniel J Thomas (0000-0001-7332-4776, Texas A&M University, corresponding author), Matthew W Johnson (0000-0002-3741-6312, Texas A&M University), John A Williams Iii (0000-0002-8561-468X, Texas A&M University), John A Williams (0000-0002-0357-5454) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 865-914 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Urban Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0042-0859 • E-ISSN: 1552-8340 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00420859251371680 |
| OpenAlex | W4414909735 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 134 |
This literature review interrogates the genealogy of questions posed about Black men and boys in Urban Education from 1965 to 2025, tracing how policy eras have delimited their discursive framing within educational research. Drawing on Goldberg's (1993) racial knowledg e and Wynter's (1995) subjective understanding , we employ a Foucauldian genealogical analysis to examine four policy periods—from the Moynihan Report to George Floyd's racial reckoning—revealing how epistemic authority has constrained research questions within deficit, pathologizing frameworks. We argue that such questions recursively bind Black males to predetermined assumptions, reinforcing their construction as perpetual projects of potential. This review challenges researchers to resist expedient, market-driven inquiries to challenge the cyclical reproduction of racialized narratives
Discourse analysis · Educational research · Framing (construction) · George (robot) · Inequality · Reproduction · Tracing · Critical Race Theory in Education · Diverse Education Studies and Reforms · Education Discipline and Inequality
Race, Whiteness, and Education
The Economization of Life
Contempt and Pity
My Brother as “Problem”
The Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers
How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Black Male Students, Schools, and Learning in Enhancing the Knowledge Base to Disrupt Deficit Frameworks
(Re)Imagining Black Boyhood
“Same Old Stories”
Black Skin, White Masks
Discipline and Punish
All our kin
National Identities and Socio-Political Changes in Latin America
Gatekeepers and Guardians of Black Intellectual Thought
Black Bodies, White Gazes
Other People’s Children
Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth
Are Sports Overemphasized in the Socialization Process of African American Males? A Qualitative Analysis of Former Collegiate Athletes’ Perception of Sport Socialization
For Profit, For Success, For Black Men
Toward a new narrative on Black males, education, and public policy
You’re nobody until somebody kills you
When the music changes, so should the dance
Disrupting deficit notions of difference
My Brother's Keeper? The Impact of Targeted Educational Supports
Beyond role models
A Critical Essay on Black Male Teacher Recruitment Discourse
Carceral and Cathartic by Design
Trump, Kaepernick, and MLK as “maybe citizens”
Sometimes I Wish I Was a Girl, ’Cause They Do Shit Like Cry”
To Be Alone or in a Group
Mentoring but Not Being Mentored
Black Male Perspectives on Their Educational Experiences in High School
From “Problems” to “Vulnerable Resources
Culturally Disadvantaged Boys' and Girls' Aspirations to and Knowledge of White-Collar and Professional Occupations
Effects of Dialect and Instructional Procedures On Children's Oral Language Production and Concept Acquisition
After-School Programs
Advancing Black Male Success
Overrepresentation of African American Students in Exclusionary Discipline The Role of School Policy
Kenneth and Mamie Clark Revisited
It’s All Possible”
The American Achievement Ideology as Perceived by Urban African-American Students
Effects of Ethnicity and Gender on Teachers’ Evaluation of Students’ Spoken Responses
Professional Characteristics and Attitudes of Teachers
Five Wise Men
African American Male College Athletes’ Narratives on Education and Racism
Today’s Urban Black Male
Constructing a Collaborative Critique-Learning Environment for Exploring Science Through Improvisational Performance
Discursive Positioning in a Fifth-Grade Writing Lesson
Black Children's Speech and Teachers' Evaluations
Schooling and Delinquency among White and African American Adolescents
Coming Back Home to Live and Not Die
Examining the Academic Advising Experiences of Black Males at an Urban University
That’s Why I Say Stay in School”
Respecting a Cultural Continuum of Black Male Pedagogy
Making Space” for Ourselves
Environmentally Enriched Classrooms and the Play Behavior of Negro Preschool Children
Where Are the African American Males? Enrollment Criteria and the Placement of African American Males in Advanced Placement Courses
Peas ‘N Rice” or “Rice ‘N Peas”—Which One are We Really Ordering
Success in These Schools? Visual Counternarratives of Young Men of Color and Urban High Schools They Attend
Treating Men Like Boys
Challenges to Recruiting Black Males Into Early Childhood Education
High School Reform And Black Male Students
African American Males and Literacy Development in Contexts That are Characteristically Urban
Black Male Brilliance as (Ill)Legible
Assessing Ethnicity
Does the “Negro” Still Need Separate Schools? Single-Sex Educational Settings as Critical Race Counterspaces
Introducing the Predictors of Black Outcomes in STEM Survey (PBOSS)
The Misintegration of the Negro
Representing Racial Identity
Developing the Talents of African American Male Students during the Nonschool Hours
That Smart Dude
Cultural Mistrust, Academic Outcome Expectations, and Outcome Values among African American Adolescent Men
Race-Neutral Doesn’t Work
From Alienation to Efficacy
Teacher Practices and Student Motivation in a Middle School Program for African American Males
Predictors of Faculty–Student Engagement for Black Men in Urban Community Colleges
An African American Student Networking Group in an Urban High School
A Fly in the Ointment”
Using Systems Theory to Promote Academic Success for African American Males
The Trouble with Black Boys
You Can’t Fix What You Don’t Look At
Controlling the Black School-Age Male
Risk and Protective Factors in Mathematically Talented Black Male Students
Remembering Tamir Rice and Other Black Boy Victims
I Know Who I Am, Do You
Urban Education and Academic Success
Whatcha Doin' After School
Urban African American Males’ Perceptions of School Counseling Services
What's Happening to the Boys
Meet Me at the Corner
Different Folks, Different Hopes
Good” and “Bad” Kids? A Race and Gender Analysis of Effective Behavioral Support in an Elementary School
A Job Corps Center Program for Teaching Young Male Adults to Read Effectively
Place, Race, and Sports
They Think Minority Means Lesser Than”
Early Schooling and Academic Achievement of African American Males
The Psychology of Black Males Attending Urban Private Colleges and Universities
An Investigation of the Possible Effects of an Immersion as Compared to a Traditional Program for African American Males
I Was Just Trying to Make It”
Attitudes Concerning Civil Rights and Related Matters Held by Black Students in a Big City
The Forms of Capital and the Developed Achievement of Black Males
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |