Pushout

The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

With a new foreword by Mankaprr Conteh and Melissa Harris-Perry

The “powerful” (Michelle Alexander) exploration of the harsh and harmful experiences confronting Black girls in schools, and how we can instead orient schools toward their flourishing

“A dynamic call to action. . . . Pushout is essential reading for all who believe that Black lives matter.”
—Kimberlé Crenshaw

On the day fifteen-year-old Diamond from the Bay Area stopped going to school, she was expelled for lashing out at peers who constantly harassed and teased her for something everyone on the staff had missed: she was being trafficked for sex. After months on the run, she was arrested and sent to a detention center for violating a court order to attend school.

In a work that Lisa Delpit calls “imperative reading,” Monique W. Morris chronicles the experiences of Black girls across the country whose complex lives are misunderstood, highly judged—by teachers, administrators, and the justice system—and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them flourish. Painting “a chilling picture of the plight of black girls and women today” (The Atlantic), Morris exposes a world of confined potential and supports the rising movement to challenge the policies, practices, and cultural illiteracy that push countless students out of school and into unhealthy, unstable, and often unsafe futures.

At a moment when Black girls are the fastest growing population in the juvenile justice system, Pushout is truly a book “for everyone who cares about children” (Washington Post).

Book cover photograph by Brittsense/brittsense.com.

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Praise

“At a moment when footage of institutional assaults on young Black men emerges with a horrifying regularity comes a timely and indispensable look at the often invisible oppression of girls of color. Pushout blazes with the voices of young women fighting for their dignity, safety, and the fundamental right to a future.”
—Nell Bernstein, author of Burning Down the House and All Alone in the World
“A road map for educators and policymakers who want to address the unique ways in which black girls are placed in the school-to-prison pipeline.”
—Erica L. Green, The New York Times
“If you ever doubted that Supremacy Crimes—those devoted to maintaining hierarchy—are rooted in both sex and race, read Pushout. Monique Morris tells us exactly how schools are crushing the spirit and talent that this country needs.”
—Gloria Steinem
“This book is imperative reading, not only for educators and those in the justice system but—perhaps especially—for anyone who loves and sleeps down the hall from a young, developing African American woman.”
—Lisa Delpit, author of “Multiplication Is for White People” and Other People’s Children
“Morris’s sharp analysis and the compassionate way she contextualizes these stories will surely compel readers to take action against the injustices that Black girls experience in schools and beyond.”
—Beth E. Richie, author of Arrested Justice
“A powerful indictment of the cultural beliefs, policies, and practices that criminalize and dehumanize Black girls in America, coupled with thoughtful analysis and critique of the justice work that must be done at the intersection of race and gender.”
—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow
“A dynamic call to action. Black girls’ exposure to being pushed out of school and set on paths to incarceration, physical and economic insecurity, and social marginality is so movingly set forth by Morris that it can no longer be ignored. Pushout is essential reading for all who believe that Black lives matter.”
—Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-editor of Critical Race Theory and co-author of the reports “Say Her Name” and “Black Girls Matter”
“Despite increased attention to the mass and over-incarceration of Black men, the plight of criminalized Black women and girls is overlooked, underreported, and underanalyzed. Finally, a compelling narrative that tells us the heartrending story of how schools are culpable in re-victimizing some of our most vulnerable citizens. This is a must-read for educators, juvenile justice officials, parents, and the entire community.”
—Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Distinguished Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison

News and Reviews

Zora Magazine

Included in “The Zora Cannon,” a list of the 100 greatest books written by African American women published by Zora, a Medium publication.

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The Washington Post

The Washington Post reviews Pushout

NewsOne Now with Roland Martin

Listen to Monique W. Morris's interview on NewsOne Now with Roland Martin

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The Leonard Lopate Show

Listen to Monique W. Morris's interview on the Leonard Lopate Show

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Pages

Books by Monique Couvson

Charisma’s Turn

Charisma’s Turn

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Black Stats

Black Stats

African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-First Century

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Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues

Sing a Rhythm, Dance a Blues

Liberatory Education for Black and Brown Girls

Monique Couvson

Goodreads Reviews