Justice for Black Students: Black Principals Matter

In "Justice for Black Students: Black Principals Matter," Kofi Lomotey begins with a two-pronged premise: (1) Black students do not receive a quality education in US public (or private) schools, and (2) Black principals, like Black teachers, can make a positive impact on the academic and overall success of Black students. Through the chronicling of his own work over 50 years--as a practitioner and an academic--Lomotey puts forth this argument with a focus on Black principals. In this book, he positions his 1993 coining of the term "ethno-humanism"--a role identity which he attributes to successful Black principals--as a fundamental/critical component of the leadership of these principals. In reprinting three of his earlier articles and sharing new information (including a review of the literature on Black male principals), he provides a broad-based description of this role identity and then links it to the more recent concepts of culturally responsive/culturally relevant teaching/pedagogy and culturally responsive/culturally relevant school leadership, before describing the implications for Black students of his own work and of other research that has been conducted on Black principals. This volume is essential reading for all educators interested in seeing a significant improvement in the academic and overall success of Black students. Preservice teachers, practitioners, and administrators will find enormous value in the book's message. [Forward written by Sonya Douglass. Afterward written by Linda C. Tillman.]