Introduction: Recovering and Reclaiming Black Histories: Integrating Historical Perspectives in Teaching and Research

Authors

• Mariah Deans Harmon, The Pennsylvania State UniversityFollow
• Taryrn T.C. Brown, University of FloridaFollow

Abstract

During one of our many virtual writing sessions–spaces that for us had become as much about thinking and collective sensemaking as they were about writing–Taryrn shared plans for an upcoming research visit to Zimbabwe. Supported by an International Center Global Fellows grant at her institution, the research visit was intended to extend her existing research agenda into a more explicitly global and transnational context. Yet, as our conversation unfolded, what began as a discussion of an upcoming research experience deepened into reflection on place, memory, family, and the histories that accompany us into our scholarly work.

Author Biography

Mariah Deans Harmon



Mariah Deans Harmon, PhD (she/her), is an assistant professor of teacher education in the College of Education at Penn State University. As a member of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, her research centers on strategies to make teacher education programs more inclusive, specifically considering the needs of Black teachers. Before working in academia, Mariah was a middle school English/Language Arts Teacher in Okolona, Mississippi, teaching in the same school as her grandmother, Julia Bowen Williams, 40 years before. This connection has been a driving force for her engagement in the histories of Black teachers as a blueprint for pedagogical development today.

Taryrn T.C. Brown



Taryrn T.C. Brown, PhD (she/her), is an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Florida. Her work explores how race, class, gender, and place shape educational experiences, with particular attention to youth-led research and university–community partnerships. Her interest in Black educational histories is deeply personal, shaped by her grandparents’ educational experiences in Zimbabwe and questions about whose histories are remembered, documented, and passed on. This connection informs her research interests in methods to recover, reclaim, and connect stories of the past to educational possibilities in the present.

Recommended Citation

Harmon, M. D., & Brown, T. T. (2026). Introduction: Recovering and reclaiming Black histories: Integrating historical perspectives in teaching and research. Occasional Paper Series, (56), 3-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.58295/2375-3668.1669