Anti-Black racism manifests in the lives of Black youth in numerous ways, including through the enactment and reproduction of harmful assumptions and stereotypes, often experienced as gendered racial microaggressions — subtle forms of discrimination in brief, everyday exchanges that are based on the intersection of gendered and racial identities.

To make spaces safe for Black youth, we must understand these microaggressions and challenge the underlying assumptions and stereotypes, which can compromise Black youth mental health, wellbeing, sense of identity and possibility, and potential outcomes.

This Factsheet outlines Harmful Assumptions and Stereotypes of Black Girls & Young Women (developed from the article Devalued, Overdisciplined, and Stereotyped: An Exploration of Gendered Racial Microaggressions Among Black and Adolescent Girls (2022) by Cecile A. Gadson and Jioni A. Lewis in Journal of Counseling Psychology) and Harmful Assumptions and Stereotypes of Black Boys & Young Men (developed from the article Students ‘At Risk’: Stereotypes and The Schooling of Black Boys (2012) by Carl E. James in Urban Education), as well as tools and resources to support Challenging Harmful Assumptions & Stereotypes and Confronting Anti-Black Microaggressions.