Morris, M. (n.d.). Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. United States: New Press.

I first became aware of Pushout while working at West Charlotte High School. Some of my students were reading it in their English class. The cover left an impression and the content seemed to really have my students fired up.

When seeking to write a policy analysis paper about zero tolerance policies in schools for SWK 621: Foundations of Social Work and Social Policy, Monique W. Morris’s Pushout is one of the first resources I turned to.

Morris lays out the systemic criminalization of Black girls within the public school system. Through an analysis of history, quantitative and poignant qualitative research, Morris brings the reality of education as a Black girl to the pages of “Pushout.”

As a Black woman who has only ever experienced public education and is interested in Black generational trauma specifically focused on working with adolescents, this reading helped me to conceptualize my own experiences growing up as well as what I observed working in a high school and even interning with the Guilford County Reentry Council.