Signithia Fordham

Signithia Fordham is a prominent anthropologist who studies the influences of race on Black students in the classroom. Despite having strong African American models such as her mother, Fordham mentioned how she often felt pressure to conform to a white "norm" in high school, which possibly influenced her later research Acting White

Career After receiving her PhD from The American University, Fordham began working with John Ogbu at the University of California, Berkeley. She went on to receive a prestigious appointment as a visiting fellow in African and African American studies at Yale University and then became the first presidential fellow in the Department of Afro-American Studies at Princeton from 1991 to 1992. She remains a professor in the anthropology department at the University of Rochester and is known for being a challenging and extremely knowledgeable professor

Acting White Fordham was a main contributor to the creation of the framework Acting White and has published significant research, both outlining Acting White and discussing other prevalent topics for Black students in educational settings.

The Burden of Acting White Source:

Fordham and John Ogbu published "Black Students' School Success: Coping with the "Burden of 'Acting White'"" in 1986. The study, which was widely dispersed and is still relevant today, attributed Black students' lower academic achievement to the association between doing well in school and Acting White. They argued that Black students who do well in school risk "labeling... exclusion from peer activities or ostracism, and physical assault" (183). This recommendation put the brunt of the responsibility to address "Acting White" on Black communities without recognizing the roots of how the notion of "Acting White" developed. The deeply ingrained nature of "acting white" as perpetuated by all perspectives was showcased in the aforementioned Obama speech, in which Fordham did not receive credit for her role in the Acting White research. In an article titled "Are (Black) Female Academics Ignored?" she explained that the individuals who did receive credit for the "Acting White" work were all male and affiliated with elite institutions. Furthermore, they recognize that Acting White is not understood by Blacks as doing well in school, but rather as behaviors such as studying and speaking up in class, which are associated with doing well in school.

Moreover, these suggestions ask Black families and students to adapt in order to fit a Eurocentric system. Some researchers have begun to push back and challenge schools to be more inclusive of activities and classroom setups that promote and support Blackness and Black Identities. In Fordham's research "Dissin' "the Standard": Ebonics as Guerrilla Warfare at Capital High," Fordham discusses how Black students have taken on Ebonics as the Standard language, and treat Standard English as a vernacular dialect. Fordham implies that using Ebonics or standard English is a choice. She asserts that many students don't speak "standard English" because, either consciously or unconsciously, they recognize that forcing standard English is an institutionalized convention that "marginalize and stigmatize the Black self." Therefore, policies based on the common assumption that Black students can't speak "standard English" will never work, because they force students to perpetuate the dehumanization that occurs by devaluing Black language.

"Racelessness as a factor in Black students' school success: Pragmatic strategy or pyrrhic victory?" Source:

Fordham continued her work in Capital High School, this time exploring the strengths of "Loud Black Girls" embodying their Blackness. Her research followed Black female high school students and examined their identity formation and how the idea of "passing" related to them. "Passing" refers to the idea that women have to act in a particular way in male-dominated spaces to get by and be accepted by the general public. Similarly, Black women have to act in a quiet, subdued, and complacent way if they want to be perceived as good students. Fordham argues that Black women should express their "loudness" and rebel in the ways they see fit against the systems that have historically oppressed them. She sees this as a way of developing and maintaining ties to the Black community while making space for blackness in academia.

Impact Fordham's resistance against "Passing" falls in line with works done during the same time period within the framework of Black nationalism. In "Those loud Black Girls," Fordham argues that Black people need to redefine themselves as separate from a white standard and take pride in how they exist in the world, and further argues that it is exactly what some loud Black girls are already doing at Capital High.

Her research has looked into the different implications of being Black in a high school setting and has been greatly influential in asking people to look beyond the classic racist answers such as blacks are genetically inferior, or incapable of learning Standard English as justifications for the Achievement gap in the United States. Although her initial research focused on changing behaviors of Black students and the black community, she has evolved in her research and has helped to set the stage for research focused on the strengths of Black students, thus providing evidence for the necessity of policies that put the impetus of responsibility on the schools and teachers, rather than on Black communities.

Notable works

Books Blacked Out: Dilemmas of Race, Identity, and Success at Capital High, 1996 Downed by Friendly Fire: Black Girls, White Girls, and Suburban School, 2016

Journal articles Passin' for Black: Race, identity, and bone memory in postracial America, 2010 'Staying Black': The demonstration of racial identity and womanhood among a group of young achieving Black Women, 2013 Beyond Capital High: On dual citizenship and the strange career of 'acting White.', 2008 Dissin' 'the standard': Ebonics as Guerrilla warfare at Capital High, 1999 'Those loud Black girls' (Black) women, silence, and gender 'passing' in the academy, 1993 Racelessness as a factor in Black students; school success: Prgamatic strategy of pyrrhic victory?, 1988 Black students' school success: Coping with the 'burden of acting White', 1986