“If we are not maladjusted to this situation, something is wrong with us.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Unteachables (University of Minnesota Press 2023) examines the overrepresentation of Black students in special education over the course of the twentieth century. Excavating the deep-seated racism embedded in both the public school system and public policy, Mayes explores the discriminatory labeling of Black students, and how it indelibly contributed to special education disproportionality, to student discipline and push-out practices, and to the school-to-prison pipeline.

Keith A. Mayes is associate professor of African American & African Studies and faculty affiliate in sociocultural studies in education at the University of Minnesota.

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Episode 81- Dr.Keith Mayes, The Unteachables
How special education used disability labels to marginalize Black students in public schools The Unteachables examines the overrepresentation of Black students in special education over the course of the twentieth century.

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Taking Martin Luther King Jr’s Call For Creative Maladjustment Seriously

Game changer

Starting in the late 1950s, Joseph L. White boldly forged the domain of black psychology. The “godfather of black psychology” looks back on his 60-year career championing the rights of blacks and his 1968 confrontation with APA’s Board of Directors.