{"id":19486,"date":"2025-02-25T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/?p=19486"},"modified":"2025-02-28T12:56:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T20:56:40","slug":"celebrating-black-history-in-an-anti-dei-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/2025\/02\/25\/celebrating-black-history-in-an-anti-dei-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Black History in an Anti-DEI Landscape\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Shawntae-Mitchum-Blog-Post-768x432.png\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Shawntae-Mitchum-Blog-Post-1920x1080.png 1920w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Shawntae-Mitchum-Blog-Post-1280x720.png 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Shawntae-Mitchum-Blog-Post-768x432.png 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Blog title text: \"Celebrating Black History in an Anti-DEI Landscape\" Image: a headshot of a Black woman with her hair in long, thin braids and wearing a white blouse and posing with a smile in front of a building and trees on the USC campus. By Shawntae Mitchum, PhD Candidate, USC Sociology\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Celebrating Black History in an Anti-DEI Landscape\u00a0<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n    \n          <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span>By Shawntae Mitchum, PhD Candidate, USC Sociology; Community Engaged Research Graduate Fellow, USC ERI \u00a0<\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">February 25, 2025<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n       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-9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <h3><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Celebrating Black History Month Amid Rising Erasure<\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Black History Month is one of many things under attack in Trump\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recent executive order<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> aimed at eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. The ongoing attacks on DEI policies represent a broader attempt to erase the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/01\/22\/us\/dei-diversity-equity-inclusion-explained\/index.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hard-fought gains of the Civil Rights Movement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, specifically in our educational institutions. While Black History Month was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/asalh.org\/about-us\/about-black-history-month\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">established by Carter G. Woodson in 1926<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to celebrate and preserve Black contributions, the current political climate underscores the urgency of moving beyond performative recognition and celebrations and toward sustained institutional commitment. In resisting ongoing erasure, Black storytelling and education remain powerful tools of liberation, ensuring that our history is neither erased nor confined to a single month amidst the anti-DEI movement of our time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2025, celebrating Black History Month has been a mix of feeling connected to my ancestors, and feeling powerless in the face of continued backlash and resistance. This February, educators around the nation are greatly impacted by the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/01\/22\/us\/dei-diversity-equity-inclusion-explained\/index.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">anti-DEI movement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/podcast\/political-scene\/the-attack-on-black-history-in-schools\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">attacks on the teaching of Black history<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> specifically. While there is much to be said about the many things being thrown under the umbrella of \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d (DEI), the anti-DEI movement is a deliberate attempt to erase historical gains made through civil rights movements\u2014 not only for Black communities but for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">all <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">marginalized and historically oppressed people. While the attack on DEI is not new, the erasure has become more blatant through the Trump administration\u2019s stream of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">actions and executive orders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/article\/2024\/aug\/24\/desantis-florida-schools-racism\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> state- and local-level bans<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> such as those in Florida and Texas, and many other political tools designed to divide communities across identity and party lines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>How Attacks Against DEI Rollback Civil Rights Progress<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since 2023, lawmakers have introduced <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/here-are-the-states-where-lawmakers-are-seeking-to-ban-colleges-dei-efforts?utm_campaign=che-cm-eng-gen-sme-db-dei-tracker&amp;utm_medium=em&amp;utm_source=mkto&amp;utm_content=25-02-04-e10&amp;mkt_tok=OTMxLUVLQS0yMTgAAAGYdZACxXdAfI3aUaCMI0GbhMkr5PVBi5jhZJ7pyX7R_WT8cPgrgTpUt_zx94xx20D-Pym0PSsXGmLvxHAWPvNLqPxxJpqMvVcWkT03jS3hUcRunhjU&amp;sra=true\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">119 bills <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">restricting or banning \u201cDEI\u201d programs. These attempts\u2014some of them successful\u2014 include banning identity-based preferences in hiring and college admissions, restricting funding for identity-based programs and events, and dismantling DEI departments and positions, among others. These bills have been exclusively introduced by conservative lawmakers, and push the false narrative that DEI gives Black and brown communities unfair advantages rather than working to change long-standing systemic inequities. This \u201cmerit-based\u201d argument has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/barrier-breakers.org\/blog\/asian-american-college-students-and-the-myths-of-meritocracy\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">historically been used to create division between racially-minoritized groups<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and is rearing its head in the midst of the anti-DEI movement. In a recent executive order, entitled <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cEnding Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,\u201d<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Donald Trump is reinforcing a harmful assumption that racial or gender identity, rather than qualifications, determine someone\u2019s hiring outcomes. That framing suggests that if you are Black, Brown, a woman, a person of color, or any combination of these identities, you are only in your position because of DEI policies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What we now call DEI are policies and practices put in place to address hundreds of years of enslavement, discrimination, and Jim Crow segregation. As a country founded upon ideas of white supremacy and anti-Blackness, the very fabric of our institutions has been built upon inequality and exclusion of \u201cthe other.\u201d At one point in time, Black students were not allowed in the same classrooms as their white peers, and without direct policy intervention via <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brown vs. Board of Education<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that could very well still be true today. With DEI and Black History under attack, teaching the truth about systemic racism in the classroom could be banned outright.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As clearly articulated in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ed.gov\/about\/news\/press-release\/us-department-of-education-directs-schools-end-racial-preferences\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U.S. Department of Education\u2019s \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, efforts to erase our history are underway and if these become legally binding mandates, our ability to teach future generations about racism and inequality is at risk. The contradiction lies in the fact that we had to create entire amendments to the Constitution that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaihs.org\/a-compact-for-the-good-of-america-slavery-and-the-three-fifths-compromise\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">outlined how Black people should be represented<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, once legally counting their votes as worth less than those of white men.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Years later, the very legislation that was created to address years of voter suppression, discrimination in employment, housing and more, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cbc.house.gov\/news\/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2774\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has been rescinded or is at risk of being a target of the anti-DEI movement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>Black History and Storytelling as Resistance<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a Black educator, I have hope in the midst of all the uncertainty. Black history is not up for debate\u2014our ancestors fought for its national recognition, and we are the true owners of our stories. When American history books excluded us, we told stories in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.civilrightsteaching.org\/resource\/from-freedom-to-liberation\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Freedom Schools<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">churches, barber shops, hair salons, and in the kitchens of Black women cooking for the community. Black history was never meant to be confined to textbooks or bound by academic criteria and rigor. It lives in poetry, hip-hop and jazz music, within community organizations in the homes of Black families and beyond. While education has always been a tool of liberation for the Black communities, institutions have too often become spaces of oppression. Even as they try to erase us, our history can never be taken away so long as we continue to walk the paths that were paved for us\u2014in underground resistance, beyond the white gaze, and rooted in justice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While institutions are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/tracking-higher-eds-dismantling-of-dei?sra=true\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pre-emptively complying to avoid losing funding<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, educators should pause to strategize. The ongoing assault on DEI policies is not merely an attack on a set of programs, but a concerted effort to erase decades of civil rights gains and marginalize Black narratives. Despite these challenges, Black history remains a powerful force\u2014etched in the stories of our ancestors, the creative expressions of our communities, and the relentless spirit of resistance. As educators, activists, and community members, our task is to embed Black history into the very fabric of our society, transforming it from a once-a-year celebration into a continuous, lived experience that honors truth and inspires progress. Our stories are our legacy, and through them, we not only preserve the past but also forge a future defined by justice, inclusion, and unwavering resilience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>About the author:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-19487 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Mitchum-Headshot-scaled-e1740433834469-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"A headshot of a Black woman with their hair in long, thin braids, wearing a white blouse posing with a smile in front of a building and trees on the USC campus.\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Mitchum-Headshot-scaled-e1740433834469-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Mitchum-Headshot-scaled-e1740433834469-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Mitchum-Headshot-scaled-e1740433834469-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Mitchum-Headshot-scaled-e1740433834469-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Mitchum-Headshot-scaled-e1740433834469-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Mitchum-Headshot-scaled-e1740433834469-320x320.jpeg 320w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Mitchum-Headshot-scaled-e1740433834469-1280x1280.jpeg 1280w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/02\/Mitchum-Headshot-scaled-e1740433834469.jpeg 1681w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shawntae Mitchum (she\/her) is a doctoral candidate in the department of Sociology at the University of Southern California and an ERI Graduate Fellow in Community Engaged Research, with areas of expertise in race\/ethnicity and gender. She situates her work in Black sociological traditions where she takes both a qualitative and a historical approach to studying the lived experiences of Black faculty, students, and staff in higher education. Her research project currently under review for publication extends the literature on \u201cracialized equity labor\u201d to interrogate how anti-Black racism manifests in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work in the wake of the summer 2020 racial reckoning. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her co-authored publication \u201cThe State of Black Sociology: A Critical Reflection of Joyce Ladner\u2019s Death of White Sociology\u201d highlights the historical exclusion of Black Sociology that extends beyond, but is inclusive of, W.E.B DuBois. The paper urges \u201cmainstream\u201d sociology to investigate its complacency in anti-Black racism and the harm it causes on Black graduate students in the discipline when Black theorists, foremothers and intellectuals are excluded from our academic training. As a higher education scholar, her broader research agenda aims to incorporate theories of Blackness and anti-Blackness with existing perspectives focused on higher education research and policy. Her dissertation examines the role of California community colleges in addressing basic needs, fostering a sense of belonging, and supporting students through equity programming.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Explore other articles\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/2026\/02\/05\/making-meaning-of-minnesota-immigration-ice-and-civic-action\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Making Meaning of Minnesota: Immigration, ICE, and Civic Action<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/2025\/10\/24\/2025-data-estimates-undocumented-immigrants-in-orange-county\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >2025 Data Estimates: Undocumented Immigrants in Orange County<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/eri\/2025\/10\/10\/book-event-with-author-alejandra-campoverdis-first-gen\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Book Event with Author Alejandra Campoverdi&#8217;s &#8216;First Gen&#8217;<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":19490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[89,344,340,92,341,342,153],"class_list":["post-19486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-african-americans","tag-black-educators","tag-black-history-month","tag-civil-rights","tag-dei","tag-diversity-equity-inclusion","tag-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - 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