“Play Your Part”: Driving Through Time Acknowledging the Importance of Black Music Educators

Abstract This chapter explores the influence of Black music educators on a Black male students’ academic and social experiences. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT), I identify how Black music educators have had a significant influence on music education. I also discuss how Black music educators address systemic oppression through their instructional approaches as counter-narrative. Milner (2012) found that Black educator’s instructional approaches had a significant impact when teaching Black students as they understood how they acquired knowledge. These Black music educators truly met me where I was academically and developed rigor and high expectations in and outside of the academic setting. These approaches may enable future Black music educators and all other future educators to use music as a way to process and share their experiences of resisting dominant narratives.