Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

With her brief Epilogue, Morris restates the importance of incorporating Black girls’ experiences into social justice work. Reviewing her research methodology, which included studies from the National Woman’s Law Center, the Human Rights for Girls Project, and the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, Morris acknowledges the current groups at work who are drawing attention to, advocating, and writing policies specifically for Black girls.

Morris also acknowledges that her book could have further explored such topics as media representation of Black girls and Black femininity. She then calls on other scholars and activists to continue the route of inquiry that Pushout has started. She hopes that in a few years’ time, legitimate changes will be instituted to the American education system.

In conclusion, Morris reflects on an interview she conducted with a student named Jennifer in a California detention center. Morris reveals that at the beginning of her research for Pushout, she was unsure whether to use her field work to write a novel or a nonfiction analysis of Black girls’ experiences in schools. When she asked Jennifer what the book should be, the student replied, “I think you should tell the truth…Yeah, just tell the truth” (197).