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For generations, Black youth – and in particular Black male youth – have experienced significant challenges in mainstream school systems. Researchers have documented the many difficulties, obstacles,and challenges that Black youth students must navigate when attempting to access education(McCready, 2012; Dumas & Nelson, 2016; Dei, 1996, James, 2012). Colonization and different forms of ‘push out’ (Dei, 1996) – in particular anti-Black racism – pervade the everyday lives of Black students.COVID-19 has exacerbated matters: the pandemic has the potential to derail the educational development of Black students (Price, 2020). Additionally, for the last two decades, most research has focused on female students. Samuel noted, “As a college education becomes increasingly important in today’s economy, it’s girls, not boys, who are succeeding in school” (2017, p. 1). Where are the boys? Scholars have been aware of the ‘boy crisis’ – in which boys are at a disadvantage and underperforming in schooling and education –since the 1990s (Sadowski, 2010; Hussain & Milliment, 2009; Orr, 2011; McCready, 2012; Dumas & Nelson, 2016; Dunne & Ananga, 2013). Considerable research has focused on gender and sex differences as contributing to this disparity in performance. Boys have been framed as emotionally disconnected, lacking interest and attention in education (Sadowski, 2010), and underperforming in ‘feminized’ and gendered schooling (Clarke, 2005; Jha, Menon & Chatterjee, 2017; Vantieghem, Vermeersch & Van Houtte, 2014, Goldberg and Bruno, 1999; Telson, 2019; Chege & Sifuna, 2006). Some scholars have argued that economic opportunities and responsibilities have pushed boys out of schools (Kipusi, 2019, Muthaa, 2020), while others have focused more on the effects of militarism, violence, and incarceration (Makori, 2014).

Beyond the sensationalized, essentialized, and Western hegemonic focus on the ‘boy crisis,’ little research has focused on the experiences of male youth and how their schooling and education experiences are affected by race, ethnicity, and class (Martin, 2008 as cited in McCready, 2012), as well as other factors including imperialism, diaspora/migration, displacement, and capitalism that involve diverse and multiple experiences of masculinities and needs in school-aged boys (Imms, 2000 as cited in McCready, 2007; Dumas & Nelson; Bristol, 2015). The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will likely have inequitable effects on students as a result of factors such as social class – and these effects are likely to be long-lasting, in particular for Black boys (Burgess & Sievertsen, 2020).

The proposed study will explore the educational experiences and narratives of Black male youth (aged 21–35; hereafter Black boys) in schools in Africa, the Caribbean, North America, and the factors that affect disengagement/’push out’ from education. It is crucial to understand and overcome these challenges, and these findings will inform global strategies to improve the schooling experiences of Black males. The overall goal of this research is to clarify how Black male youths experience schooling in Canada, Jamaica, and Kenya, and specifically the effects of colonization on their schooling. It will also explore the strategies used by Black boys to overcome the challenges facing them in schools and society, which may be leveraged on a larger scale to improve the experiences – and achievements – of Black boys in schools.