ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Michelle DeJohnette (’02 Child Development, ’21 JDP)

Michelle DeJohnette was writing her dissertation in 2020 when the ideas she’d put on the page suddenly began dominating the headlines. As a student in San Diego State University’s Joint Ph.D. Program in Education with Claremont Graduate University (JDP), she was examining the disproportionate discipline of Black children in early childhood education right as the murder of George Floyd shook the nation and ushered in the summer of Black Lives Matter.

Amid the tumult, Cal Poly Pomona responded by creating an assistant professor position focused on anti-racism in early childhood education. 

“It was like the job was written for me,” DeJohnette recalls. “It was a perfect fit."

It was time for the lifelong San Diegan to venture north.

Four years later, DeJohnette is in her third year in the role, fulfilling a dream to become a university professor that was kindled by her experience as an undergraduate in SDSU’s child development major. And earlier this year, she was named Cal Poly Pomona’s inaugural Afrofuturism Faculty Fellow.

The COE News Team sat down with DeJohnette to discuss what Afrofuturism means to her, the importance of Black representation in academia and what stoked her passion for early-childhood education.

How would you explain Afrofuturism to those who are unfamiliar?

“Afrofuturism is about imagining a future of uplifting blackness. It’s often expressed in sci-fi and the arts, but also in education. In my work, I really see Afrofuturism as envisioning a future of positive black identity, Black agency and liberation in the field of early childhood education. There are statistics that show that Black students from pre-K to higher education have lower graduation rates and lower opportunities for access to equitable education. So when I think about Afrofuturism, I think about those statistics no longer existing. I think about Black children no longer being overrepresented in discipline, suspension and expulsion, or being enrolled in special education. I think about Black children no longer being underrepresented in honors classes and GATE courses. I think about a future where all children have access to educational opportunities, not just more privileged students.”

That’s a vision of Afrofuturism very rooted in the real world. Are you drawn to the more fanciful elements of it, as well?

"Honestly, I've never been a huge fan of science fiction and those types of genres. But I think it's the fundamental thought process of imagining something that we do not have. “The Black Panther” films, for example, resonate with my work when you think about young children seeing a superhero represented as a powerful Black character. I think about the power that that gives young children. Another example: I'm a huge fan of the children’s animated show “Doc McStuffins.” It's about a little Black girl whose mother is a doctor and she pretends to be a doctor in her playhouse in the backyard. It is only the second children's animated program where the protagonist is a Black child and we live in a country where only 1% of our doctors are Black women. But “Doc McStuffins” created this movement of young Black girls saying, ‘I wanna be a doctor when I grow up.’ That's how I bridge the theatrical side of Afrofuturism to my little corner of educating college students to educate young children and show them that their culture is valued, supported and important."

What drew you into academia as your pathway to make a difference?

“When I graduated from San Diego State with my bachelor's degree over 20 years ago, there was a lack of Black representation — and there's still a lack of people of color in the teaching profession. I was usually the only Black student in my child development classes, and there were no Black faculty in the department at that time. I remember, when I graduated, feeling like I have to come back and be a professor. That desire just wouldn't leave me. It was like this burning inside me.”

How does it feel now being the Black representation that you didn’t have back then?

"It brings me to tears. I don't have a lot of Black students, still, as the Pomona area has a predominantly Hispanic and Latinx community. So I can still count on one hand the number of Black students I've had in any given semester. But I have gotten feedback from Black students who have said in their end of semester reflections, 'This is my third year in college and Dr. DeJohnette was my first Black instructor.' or 'When we bring up issues of race and equity in early childhood education, I have felt like I had to be the voice of the Black community. Having a Black professor was the first time that I didn't feel like I had to do that.' Those types of statements are just full circle for me. They just confirm that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing."

Where did your passion for early childhood education come from?

“I experienced abuse as a child. When I was younger I spent my adolescence in foster care. I remember being 12 years old and thinking, ‘Whenever I have children, I will not hit my child.’ I think that was when the seed was planted to be an advocate for children and families. I wanted to teach parents that there was a better way to discipline children than physical corporal punishment. It's funny, I was a single mom in my mid-20s and I went to school to be a court reporter at San Diego City College because I knew court reporters made a lot of money. But I hated it (laughs). And I changed my major to child development, and I never looked back. I opened a family childcare center in 1997 with the mission of not only caring for children, but to support and educate parents whose children are going through developmental change. I had that business for 24 years, even through my Ph.D. program!”

Speaking of your Ph.D. program, was the JDP a positive experience for you?

“Absolutely! When I started the doc program, Dr. Luke Wood was the director and that was an amazing experience to be able to meet him, work with him and learn from him. Even as he moved on to become Chief Diversity Officer at SDSU, he still supported me and guided me. Dr. Marva Cappello also really nourished and supported us to explore what was really important to us. Also, with Dr. Sarah Garrity at SDSU helping me keep my research on racism in education grounded in early childhood and Dr. Eligio Martinez, Jr. at CGU mentoring me as I connected early childhood to Critical Race Theory, I had an amazing team behind me. San Diego State will always be home to me. The field of child development, and the Child and Family Development Department — those are my roots. As I move forward teaching our college students about equity in early childhood programs, I always remember that I got my start at SDSU."

This interview has been edited lightly for brevity and clarity.