Paying The Black Tax

In the Black community, there is the “Black Tax,” a non-cliche term expressing the sentiment that Black people must carry the burden of representation, of being twice as good to get half as much of what their white counterparts have. In the context of education, paying the Black Tax can take shape in multiple ways. While the tax is not directly economic, it depletes the emotional, physical, and mental well-being of Black educators.

Similar to corporate America and higher education, private, independent school communities are no different, places in which Black teachers have to work twice as hard while being more scrutinized, as they make up less than 5% of the teaching faculty and administration. More often within these institutions, Black employees are saturated with an additional workload, in contrast to their white peers. Time and time again, Black faculty are asked to go above and beyond their responsibilities, where they are already spread too thin, or end up taking on jobs that are not in the scope of what they have been hired to do. The impact of this leads to racialized trauma, not being considered for leadership positions because their experiences are not quantifiable on a resume, and serving in roles but having no real decision-making power.

Black educators working in predominantly white institutions have the unspoken burden of representing their race through the lens of…