“Treat Them Like Human Beings”: Black Children’s Experiences with Racial Microaggressions in Early Childhood Education During COVID-19

This study investigated microaggressions Black children experienced in early childhood education during the pandemic. Using racial microaggressions as a framework, we sought to gain insights into these experiences through counter-narratives from parents of Black children. Parents provided unique insights into their children’s experiences, giving voice to their daily realities in early learning contexts. This article focuses on how Black children are treated with second-class student status. Black children being positioned with second-class status was the most predominant theme from this work during the pandemic. This is noteworthy, as few studies have considered how the pandemic uniquely shaped Black children’s educational realities.