There is a rationale for investigating the impact of racism and discrimination on adolescents and young adults in the United States. Racist or discriminatory experiences within educational settings, as well as in their communities, place Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students in a precarious position. This study examined potential factors related to high frequency of exposure to school-based racial and ethnic microaggressions, including: teacher cultural competence, school disciplinary structures, everyday discrimination, the race-related stress potentially associated with these experiences for BIPOC adolescents and young people, as well as mental health impacts. Through an online social media campaign, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) ages 18-25 were surveyed (N = 287), recalling experiences in high school and society with racism, microaggressions, and discrimination. The study sought to identify predictors of school-based racial and ethnic microaggressions. While controlling for social desirability, findings showed how having experienced a higher frequency of school-based racial and ethnic microaggressions while in high school was significantly predicted by various factors, such as: (1) older age; (2) darker skin; (3) lower education; (4) less teacher cultural competence; (5) more discrimination; (6) less fair discipline; (7) greater race-related stress; (8) better mental health during the past year; and (9) higher drop-out rates or consideration of dropping out due to racism. Additionally, participants experienced moderate levels of depression, anxiety, and trauma in the past year due to race. The study provides future researchers with a set of measures for examining what BIPOC students endure in school settings, along with the frequency and impact of such encounters with racism, microaggressions, and discrimination. This research is especially useful for the fields of counseling and education, given implications for meeting the needs of BIPOC adolescents while they are in high school, in order to address their experiences with racism, microaggressions, and discrimination—and to prevent drop-out from high school. The needs of BIPOC young adults also need to be addressed, given evidence of an impact for young adults beyond their high school years from school-based racial and ethnic microaggressions—which are compounded by exposure to societal-wide racism, microaggressions, and discrimination.

Recognizing the importance of context with regard to youth agency, this study explores how 8 Black LGBTQ+ youth understand their practices of agency in ballroom culture, an underground Black LGBTQ+ culture. Ballroom was chosen as the backdrop for this scholarly endeavor because it allowed for the study of the phenomenon — Black LGBTQ+ youth agency — in a space where the youth might feel more able to be themselves, especially given that the 2019 Black LGBTQ+ youth report published by the Human Rights Campaign revealed that only 35% of Black LGBTQ+ youth reported being able to “be themselves at school” (Kahn et al., 2019). Thus, instead of asking what is wrong with schools, this study inverted the question to explore what is “right” about ballroom culture in which Black LGBTQ+ youth might practice different kinds of agency due to their intersectional racial and LGBTQ+ identities being recognized and celebrated. Framed by the youth’s understanding of their own agency across different contexts, my research illuminates the complex interrelationships between youth agency, social identity, and context. Extending the literature on youth agency and Black LGBTQ+ youth, the findings of this study suggest that in many ways these youth are always already practicing agency to work toward different ends, and that these different end goals are greatly mediated by the contexts in which they find themselves. In making connections between the ways Black LGBTQ+ youth feel liberated within ballroom space to use their agency to explore and affirm their identities outside socially constructed norms, the findings of this study point to new opportunities for education research, practice, and policy to learn from ballroom culture about how to better invite Black LGBTQ+ youth into schools in humane and educative ways, encourage their agentive imaginations within education spaces, and promote liberatory school environments that recognize and embrace these youth’s intersectional identities.