The Lone Black Student

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

I've written many, many times about working while Black, but one experience I haven't yet talked about is studying while Black.

To be clear, what I'm about to describe can also happen in the workplace in meetings, in training rooms and around the water cooler. But the experience I'm talking about today is endemic in educational settings for Black (and sometimes Global Majority) students, especially in PWIs (predominantly white institutions). It goes like this:

You're the only person in the room who isn't racialised as white, including the person who's leading the session.

As usual, you pay attention to the session and diligently take notes, but then the material takes a turn. Suddenly, the topic of enslavement comes up.

You start to to panic and feel a bit sweaty, because you know what's coming next. Sure enough, all eyes swivel to you when the topic comes up, as if this is the only aspect of the course material that pertains to you as a Black person. Never mind that you already have interest in, awareness of, and expertise in a range of other relevant issues.

Even worse, the professor asks for your opinion on the matter at hand, as if you're an expert on enslavement (you might well know a lot about it, but you don't speak for all Black people and this kind of singling out just doesn't feel very good.) Besides, don’t they know that enslavement is neither where Black history starts, nor where it ends?

Because you’ve been singled out, you HAVE to say something, and to say something that avoids playing further into the stereotypes about Black people and Black history that already exist. That's a lot of pressure for those few seconds or minutes that start to feel like hours. You just want to get an education like everyone else in the room. But since you have no choice, or it feels like you don’t, you speak, hoping that what you say is accurate.

If all goes well, that ends the matter, and you can sink quietly back into your seat.

But sometimes there's a discussion (ugh) and you have to hear people who are relatively uninformed challenge what you have just said (it doesn't matter what it is; they WILL do it, especially if they're racialised as white, and especially if they're men).

Because at the same time as seeing you as the spokesperson for the formerly enslaved, many people racialised as white don't want to examine their ancestors' roles in the history of enslavement - maybe they can’t cope with the guilt or shame. And they are possibly affronted that you have information and opinions about the matter and express them well. So they push back, sometimes belligerently, on everything you’ve said. I’ve seen that happen before.

You hold your own, while longing for it to be over. Please, let this end, you think to yourself.

Finally, the torture is over, but it will take a few days for you to recover from the experience, and you'll probably never forget it, especially as it will happen again in another classroom tomorrow.

This experience is replicated in many countries and educational establishments and, as I said, in workplace learning environments, too.

While enslavement is the most common topic where this happens, it can also happen with anything believed to be a "Black topic" (no such thing) like issues related to crime and drugs (discriminatory systems, media portrayals and twisted history have a lot to answer for). For the Black student in the spotlight, the experience is pretty much the same, no matter what the topic.

And I get it, in a way. It's a Catch-22. The person leading the session rightly thinks that the student in question will have a more nuanced view of the issue, but put yourself in the student's shoes.

By singling them out, the professor is reinforcing the idea that enslavement (or similar topics) are ONLY the purview of Black people and that's ALL they are qualified to speak about. And that really isn't right, is it?

As a teacher, you may not be able to stop heads from swivelling to the lone Black student when this topic is raised, but you CAN make it clear that it's everybody's business by calling on other people who should also know the material.

You could also check in with the Black student beforehand about whether they are willing or able to engage others on this topic.

You could ... well, you fill in the blanks here.

The point is that the common approach is harmful, so please do that lone Black student a favour, and find another way to handle this.

If there are teachers reading this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on other, less harmful approaches. Hit reply and let me know or leave a comment.

Thanks for reading,

Sharon

Note: poll feedback is private - if you’re happy to share your thoughts in public, then please also leave a comment.

I am an anti-racism educator and activist, the author of “I’m Tired of Racism”, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast.

© Sharon Hurley Hall, 2025. All Rights Reserved. This newsletter is published on beehiiv (affiliate link).