Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

Monique W. Morris, Ed.D. is the author of Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. She is an author, filmmaker, and scholar whose work focuses on juveniles through the lenses of education, civil rights, and social justice. Dr. Morris is also President/CEO of Grantmakers for Girls of Color and the co-founder and Board Chair of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute.

Dr. Morris writes extensively on race, gender, culture, and alternative pedagogies meant to create an education system that is more inclusive, supportive, and equitable. Her other books include Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-First Century, Too Beautiful for Words, Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story, and Sing A Rhythm, Dance A Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls.

In specific regards to her expertise in the intersection of race and education, Dr. Morris is an alumna of City Year, an AmeriCorps equitable education program, and the former Vice President for Economic Programs, Advocacy and Research at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Through her decades of experience working with Black girls and communities of color, Morris has an extensive history of applied work that complements her scholarship.

Such practiced expertise—alongside her personal experiences with the education system as a Black woman—distinctly enlightens Pushout’s research. Dr. Morris’s leadership experience lends additional authority to her proposed systemic solutions. Her background also fortifies the book’s socio-political and cultural analyses as well as her field work. Dr. Morris’s personal background allows her to build trusting relationships with the Black girls she interviewed for Pushout, giving her unique, genuine access to the real concerns and issues that plague Black girls in American schools.