Most teachers pursue education as a career because of a desire to help children grow academically, socially, and emotionally. But some of us come to this work for additional reasons and look at it through particular lenses. Race is one of those lenses. We shouldn’t deny that, but embrace it and learn from it. Before I sign off from my final Learning Leaders column, I want to shed some light on the perspective that I — and many African American educators — bring to this work. Before I even thought about becoming a teacher, I was a student of African American history, and that shaped how I thought about my future as an educator. I knew I wanted to teach Black children. I understood the