About
Mission
Black Mathematicians’ mission is to train and develop math teachers of African American students, empower African American parents, and conduct research on math achievement and African American students.
History
Capitalistic societies, such as the United States demands educational success if one desires to participate in its benefits. Robert Moses (1989) argues that mathematics literacy is the new civil rights issue, and that Algebra is the gatekeeper to advanced math courses. A critical mass of African American students are being tracked out of these courses, thus, seriously reducing their opportunity to attend college and having a chance to live their American dream.
My personal mathematical experience as a student, a math teacher, and a math coach has provided insight into the culture of math classrooms and the realities of many African American students. In 2006, I began critically researching African Americans math achievement through my Ph.D program at the University of Washington.
The lack of attention to historical, philosophical, and sociological influences as well as school structures and environmental factors within American math classrooms is one of the main reasons for the need of this organization. Because of the disproportionate number of African American students failing (as defined by the dominant perspective of White middle class America) in mathematics, these areas warrant deeper study.
Black mathematicians’ aim is to bring to bear, in a practical and accessible way, deeper philosophical and ethical influences and questions, such as teacher math identities, students math identities, the image of mathematics, who is a mathematician, and what does it mean to be good at math in our society?
About Nicole M. Russell
Nicole M. Russell is the founder and C.E.O. of Black Mathematicians. She has a B.A. in Business Economics with a minor in mathematics, a Masters in Teaching, and is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington in Seattle with a concentration in math education and multicultural education. She also works as a math coach in Seattle Public Schools where she consults, collaborates and mentors math teachers around issues such as math curriculum, mathematical community and discourse, math best practices and pedagogy, and math identity development. Nicole has taught in classrooms, grades k-8 in Seattle and has been a part of the math education community for almost ten years. She is a certificated teacher holding endorsements in mathematics and economics.