The Literacy Research Association is honored to have revered literacy professionals Dr. Catherine Compton-Lilly, Dr. Marcus Croom, Dr. Allison Skerrett and Dr. Mary McVee participate in the Integrative Research Review Panel at the 2022 Annual Conference to be held in Phoenix, AZ at the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa from November 29th – December 3rd, 2022.

Details on the session, titled Review and Scholarly Syntheses as Anti-Racist Action can be read below.

For 35 years, W.S. Gray published the annual Summary of Investigations Relating to Reading (1925-1960). Alongside these summaries were dozens of other reviews related to various aspects of literacy. Among the documents was a lone and troubling reminder of the historical silencing of African American voices in literacy scholarship. In short, there was one review, published in 1958 and ancillary to Gray’s official Summary Investigations, entitled, “A Summary of Reading Investigations among Negro College Students, 1940-1954.” This was the only review that named a population of color. This review was written by a well-established, but essentially forgotten, African American scholar, Leander L. Boykin. Boykin was the first African American scholar to receive a Ph.D. in education from Stanford University(1948) (Hood, 2001). His interest in making sense of bodies of educational scholarship led him to advocate for the inclusion of quantitative and qualitative data in order to “evaluate such correlative factors as the social and economic backgrounds of pupils and the educational climate in which classroom and school activities are conducted” (Boykin, 1957, p. 118). While Boykin’s scholarly output remains impressive, his legacy of affecting the trajectory of review scholarship to include African American communities was minimal. In short, it was not until 1975 and again in 1976, that reviews focused on the experiences African American students were again published (see Somervill, 1975; Harber & Bryen, 1976).

This historical omission is significant and it is not a minor oversight. Scholarly reviews provide both novice and established scholars with macro views of our field. They focus on what is considered important and worthy of attention. It is with this history in mind that the Integrative Review Panel for LRA 2022 has been organized. Across the papers presented in this panel, presenters will explore silences and obfuscations relative to the voices of BIPOC scholars and the experiences of BIPOC communities. The panel views the public presentation of these syntheses as an intentionally anti-racist act designed to name, describe, and celebrate the contributions of BIPOC scholarship. Panel participants are confident that the LRA community will find this work impressive, inspiring, and important.

A Metasynthesis and the Inclusion of Scholarship conducted by Black, Indigenous, People of Color

Catherine Compton-Lilly, University of South Carolina; co-authors Tisha Lewis Ellison, University of Georgia and Rebecca Rogers, University of Missouri, Saint Louis

Characterizing and Traversing Racial Literacies Scholarship
Marcus Croom, Indiana University

Banned Books and Banners for Change: Literacy Education for Troubled Times
Allison Skerrett, University of Texas at Austin

Racial Positioning and Emotion in Stories of Literacy Teachers: Transgressing Boundaries and Borders
Mary McVee, University of Buffalo, SUNY; co-authors Aijuan Cun, University of New Mexico and Kristian Douglas, Clark Atlanta University

In the coming weeks, LRA will share further details on each panelist’s biography and presentation. Registration for 2022 Annual Conference is now open.

References

Boykin, L. L. (1957). Who is the exceptional child?. The Elementary School Journal, 58(1), 42-47.

Harber, J. R., & Bryen, D. N. (1976). Black English and the task of reading. Review of Educational Research, 46(3), 387-405.

Hood, S. (2001). Nobody knows my name: In praise of African American evaluators who were responsive. New Directions for Evaluation, (92), 31-44.

Somervill, M. A. (1975). Dialect and reading: A review of alternative solutions. Review of Educational Research, 45(2), 247-262.