Danny Bernard Martin, PhD
Professor
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science (MSCS)
Contact
Building & Room:
3436 ETMSW
Address:
1040 W. Harrison St. (MC 147), Chicago, IL 60607
Office Phone:
Email:
Related Sites:
About
Dr. Danny Bernard Martin is Professor of Education and Mathematics. He teaches mathematics content and methods courses in the undergraduate elementary education program as well as courses in the PhD program in Mathematics and Science Education. He served as Department Chair of Curriculum and Instruction from 2006-2011 and from 2013-2016. Prior to coming to UIC, he was Instructor and Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Contra Costa College for 14 years, serving as Department Chair for three years. His teaching regularly included Algebra, Introduction to Probability and Statistics, Calculus I and II, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations. He also served as Principal Investigator on two National Science Foundation grants in the Center for Science Excellence. In 2001, Dr. Martin was Teacher of the Year in the Contra Costa Community College District. He was a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow from 1998-2000.
Dr. Martin's research has focused primarily on understanding the salience of race and identity in Black learners’ mathematical experiences. His empirical research has spanned middle school, high school, community college, and university contexts and has also focused on Black parents and families. Dr. Martin's work is antithetical to perspectives that attempt to fix or repair Black learners. In his work, the ordinary brilliance of Black children is axiomatic. His work also suggests that we cannot reform the project of mathematics education away from its symbiotic relationships with white supremacy, antiblackness, and racial capitalism. New forms of math education, worthy of Black children, are needed.
Martin is author of the book Mathematics Success and Failure Among African Youth (2000/2006, Erlbaum), co-author of The Impact of Identity in K–8 Mathematics Learning and Teaching (2013, NCTM), editor of Mathematics Teaching, Learning, and Liberation in the Lives of Black Children (2009, Routledge), and co-editor of The Brilliance of Black Children in Mathematics: Beyond the Numbers and Toward New Discourse (2013, Information Age).
Selected Grants
• 2018-2019: Spencer Foundation Midcareer Grant, Theoretical and Methodological Considerations in Studying the Mathematical Lives of Preschool-Aged Black Children in Everyday Settings, Principal Investigator
• 2018-2021: National Science Foundation, MathScapes: Activating Public Spaces for Early Math Learning, Co-Principal Investigator
Selected Publications
SELECTED JOURNAL ARTICLES
Martin, D. B., Valoyes-Chávez, L., & Valero, P. (2024). Race, racism, and racialization in mathematics education: global perspectives. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 116(3), 313-331.
Golson, M., & Martin, D.B. (2019). Blackgirl face in mathematics contexts: Racialized and gendered performativity in mathematics. ZDM The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 51(3), 391-404.
Martin. D.B. (2019). Equity, inclusion, and antiblackness in mathematics education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 22(4), 459-478.
Oppland-Cordell, S., & Martin, D.B. (2015). Identity, power, and shifting participation in a mathematics workshop: Latin@ students’ negotiation of self and success. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 27(1), 21-49.
Martin, D.B. (2013). Race, racial projects, and mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 44(1), 316-333.
Martin. D.B. (2012). Learning mathematics while Black. The Journal of Educational Foundations, 26(1-2), 47-66.
McGee, E., & Martin, D.B. (2011). You would not believe what I have to go through to prove my intellectual value! Stereotype management among successful Black college mathematics and engineering students. American Educational Research Journal, 48(6), 1347-1389.
Martin, D.B. (2009). Researching race in mathematics education. Teachers College Record, 111(2), 295-338.
SELECTED BOOK CHAPTERS
Martin, D. (2022). Rethinking equity and inclusion as racial justice models in mathematics (education). In E. Lamb (Ed.). Math & racial justice: The role of mathematics in today’s movement for racial justice (pp. 61-72). Berkeley, CA: Mathematical Sciences Research Institute.
Martin, D.B. (2021). Refusing capital accumulation and commodification: A brief commentary on mathematics identity research. Langer-Osuna, J. M., & Shah, N. (Eds.). (2021). Making visible the invisible: The promise and challenges of identity research in mathematics education [Journal for Research in Mathematics Education Monograph Number 17] (pp. 123-135). National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Larnell, G., & Martin, D.B. (2021). Urban mathematics education as a political and personal project. In R. Milner & K. Lomotey (Eds.), Handbook of urban education (2nd Edition) (pp. 365-378). New York: Routledge.
Madden, K., Pereira, P., Rezvi, S., Trinder, V., & Martin, D. (2019). Cartographies of race, gender, and class in the white (male settler) spaces of science and mathematics: Navigations by Black, Afro-Brazilian, and Pakistani women. To appear in E. McGee, & W. Robinson (Eds.), Injecting multidisciplinary perspectives of race and gender for diversification in STEM (pp. 69-106). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Martin, D.B., Price, P., & Moore, R. (2019). Refusing systemic violence against Black children: Toward a Black liberatory mathematics education. In C. Jett, & J. Davis (Eds.) Critical race theory in mathematics education (pp. 32-55). New York: Routledge.
Martin, D. B., Anderson, C. R., & Shah, N. (2017). Race and mathematics education. In J. Cai (Ed.), Compendium for Research in Mathematics Education (pp. 607-636). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Martin, D.B., & Larnell, G. (2013). Urban mathematics education. In R. Milner & K. Lomotey (Eds.), Handbook of urban education (pp. 373-393). New York: Routledge.
Martin, D.B. (2013). Teaching other people’s children to teach other people’s children: Reflections on integrating equity issues into a mathematics content course for elementary teachers. In L. Jacobsen, J. Mistele, & B. Sriraman (Eds.), Mathematics teacher education in the public interest (pp. 3-23). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Martin, D.B., & Gholson, M. (2012). On becoming and being a critical black scholar in mathematics education: The politics of race and identity. In B. Greer & O. Skovsmose (Eds.), Critique and politics of mathematics education (pp. 203-222). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
English‐Clarke, T., Slaughter‐Defoe, D., & Martin, D.B. (2012). What does race have to do with math? Relationships between racial‐mathematical socialization, mathematical identity, and racial identity. In D. Slaughter‐Defoe (Ed.), Racial Stereotyping and Child Development (pp. 55-79), Contributions to Human Development book series. Basel, Switzerland: Karger.
Martin, D.B. (2009). Liberating the production of knowledge about African American children and mathematics. In D. Martin (Ed.), Mathematics teaching, learning, and liberation in African American contexts (pp. 3-36). New York: Routledge.
BOOKS and EDITED VOLUMES
Martin, D.B., Valero, P., & Valoyes-Chávez, L. (Eds.). (2024, July). Race, racism, and racialization in mathematics education: Global perspectives. Educational Studies in Mathematics (Special Issue).
Aguirre, J., Mayfield-Ingram, K., & Martin, D.B. (2024). The impact of identity in K–12 mathematics learning and teaching: Rethinking equity-based practices. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (212 pages)
Aguirre, J., Mayfield-Ingram, K., & Martin, D.B. (2013). The impact of identity in K–8 mathematics learning and teaching: Rethinking equity-based practices. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (126 pages)
Leonard, J., & Martin, D.B. (Eds.) (2013). The brilliance of Black children in mathematics: Beyond the numbers and toward new discourse. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. (374 pages)
Martin, D.B. (Ed.) (2009). Mathematics teaching, learning, and liberation in the lives of Black children. London: Routledge. (364 pages)
Martin, D. (2000/2006). Mathematics success and failure among African American youth: The roles of sociohistorical context, community forces, school influence, and individual agency. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (224 pages)
Notable Honors
2018, Lifetime Achievement Award, Benjamin Banneker Association
2024, American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow, AERA
Education
PhD, University of California, Berkeley, Mathematics Education
MA, University of California, Berkeley, Mathematics
BS (cum laude), Carroll College (WI), Mathematics and Physics
Professional Memberships
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI)
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Selected Presentations
Martin, D. (2021, July). Is the future of mathematics education Black? Plenary panel member at the 14th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME), Shanghai, China.
Martin, D. (2021, June). Rethinking equity and inclusion as justice models in mathematics (education). Keynote presentation for the Workshop on Mathematics and Racial Justice. Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley, CA.
Martin, D. (2018, April). Taking a knee in mathematics education: Moving from equity discourse to protest and refusal. Iris M. Carl Equity Address at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Washington, DC.
Martin, D. (2018, March). Antiblackness, citizenship, and the desegregation of mathematics education. Keynote address at Chicago Symposium Series, Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science, Chicago State University, Chicago, IL.
Martin, D. (2018, January). Black learners, citizenship, and the desegregation of mathematics. Paper presentation for invited panel on ‘Teaching for equity and broader participation in the mathematical sciences, Joint Mathematical Meetings of the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America, San Diego, CA.
Research Currently in Progress
Racial Justice in Early Math (RJEM)
The Racial Justice in Early Mathematics (RJEM) project – a collaboration between Erikson Institute and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) – focuses on addressing issues of systemic racial injustices in the math education of young learners. Established in December 2019 and led by Dr. Jennifer McCray (Erikson Institute) and Dr. Danny Bernard Martin (UIC) with funding from the Heising-Simons Foundation, the project draws on the expertise of a diverse group of stakeholders including parents, teachers, community organizers and researchers. RJEM’s main goals are: (1) to identify key issues of racial injustice in the teaching and learning of early math, (2) create spaces for difficult (and often uncomfortable) conversations and reflections that are necessary to address the complexity of racism, (3) offer opportunities for educators to develop teaching practices that foster racial justice, and (4) reimagine educational systems that protect the right of historically marginalized children to flourish in early math.
Issues of racial injustice such as white supremacy, antiblackness, xenophobia and others are inherent to mainstream educational settings in the United States. In such settings, all children are prevented from engaging in holistic approaches to learning and development that honor diverse ways of knowing and being in the world. When exposed to educational systems that do not foster racial justice, many children of historically marginalized groups and their families are seen through deficit-based perspectives that subject them to educational neglect, adultification, surveillance, criminalization, and other forms of dehumanization and violence. Because RJEM believes that all children have the right to flourish and develop their mathematics identity in nurturing and affirming spaces, the project attempts to bring racial justice to the forefront in the field of early math education.