Black Girls Love Math: Challenging Gender and Racial Stereotypes

By Megan Sayles | The Afro | Word In BlackThis& post& was originally published on& AfroCredit: Mary Taylor/Pexels(WIB) – After two decades in the education system as a math teacher, principal and administrator, Atiyah Harmon noticed a problem: young Black girls in middle school were increasingly disinterested in mathematics. Their lack of interest wasn’t due to challenges in grasping the subject but because it wasn’t perceived as “cool.”& & “It wasn’t that they didn’t have the skills, it was just that it wasn’t cool to be a math person anymore,” said Harmon. “I was very frustrated about this because I saw the lack of growth in the field.” Harmon decided she wanted to stop this cycle. In 2020, she created Black Girls Love Math (BGLM), an organization based in Philadelphia that seeks to eradicate racial and gender inequality in mathematics. It partners with schools to provide curriculum, exposes girls to women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers and holds competitions that challenge girls to solve social justice issues impacting their communities with math knowledge.& According to a& report from the American Association of University Women, many girls lose confidence in math by the time they reach the third...